Cursed
by snoopykid
Summary: An old enemy returns and a possible new powerful enemy is on the rise. It is up to Anna, Kristoff, and Elsa to save Arendelle once more from a personal vendetta and the new threat. However what happens when one of their own becomes the possible third enemy? Love can thaw, but can it break a curse? Rated T for language. *Newly Edited*
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

They were going to die. That much was clear to the infamous Snow Queen and the Royal Ice Harvester and Deliver. However their only saving grace was that Anna had been spared by this mystical assassin. He was wearing a black cloak that hid his face, however his voice was dark and hoarse as he outstretched his hand and summoned his dark power as he tried to finish the job he was assigned to do. Seeing that the Queen was weakening and the man next to her was injured, he started to chant, "Your blood is boiling, soon your lungs will sear, your body will overheat," he pauses in his chant and watches as the Queen and the blonde haired man fall down to their knees gasping for the oxygen that would never reach their lungs, "and death will come." He finished.

He waited for them to start convulsing on the floor, it would have only taken a matter of minutes, if his concentration was not interrupted as a body slammed into him. Elsa and Kristoff felt air returning as their bodies started to return to normal functioning status. However their relief was short lived as they saw Anna and the man wrestling on the ground. But before Elsa could do anything to summon her already weak powers, the man managed to triumph over Anna. They watched as he summon a ball of dark magic and as soon as it hit the Princess, she was thrown backward just mere feet away from them, "Anna!" They yelled as they tried to run over to her.

However the man was quicker and put them in steel chains that he had summoned, "Not so fast." He purred to them, "I wouldn't bother to struggle. They will only get tighter."

Elsa and Kristoff stopped struggling as the man sauntered over to the now injured princess laying on the ground. Anna grunted as she tried to sit up, but she was already being levitated off the ground and her body was paralyzed as she was forced to face the hooded mystical assassin, "Well Princess Anna, I give you a chance to live, yet here you are sacrificing yourself to try and save them."

Anna did not blink at him, and only responded in a growl, "I will always save them."

"So loyal…just like a dog," he looked at her and used his magic to get a read on the princess before him. His job was to only kill the harvester and the queen, leave the princess alone…however this could prove to be a bit more…fun…why kill them when the person they love most would or could do it.

Anna saw a wicked smile form from underneath the hood and before she could speak again, the man's hoarse voice beat her to it, "No I apologize you are not a dog. Dogs are only loyal to an extent…however your loyalty goes deeper…much like a wolf. Wolves are known to fight for their pack and you my dear," sauntering closer Anna could smell his wretched breath, "fulfill that requirement." Turning to the Queen and Kristoff he spoke, "I spare your lives this time, because I believe in a deeper sense of purpose."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Elsa growled out trying to summon her magic, however she was failing.

"You get away from her!" Kristoff yelled in a deadly tone.

The man laughed which caused chills to run up and down the spines of the captives in the room, "I do not believe either of you are in the position to be making demands or asking questions. However being the gentleman that I am, I will answer them. Princess Anna here is going to be your assassin."

"What?!" The three of them yelled.

"I will do no such thing!" Anna yelled defiantly, "I would never do that!"

"Oh yes you are dearie, because you will no longer be you. Your identity will be lost and you will be nothing but an animalistic monster to not only yourself, but to them as well." The man explained; and before another wave of objections and threats could be said he started to chant, "By night one way, by day another. This curse will take hold forever-until night and day overlap, this will be the only time to take this curse back."

Anna could feel her body becoming on fire as waves of pain were coursing through every fiber of her being. Her heart was starting to accelerate that she too thought it was on fire. _He is burning me alive! Not even being struck by Elsa was this painful_! However it was as she could feel her own body changing as she felt each of her bones breaking and reforming. Elsa and Kristoff were yelling at the man, however their voices were drowned out by Anna's agonizing screams. The man tuned all this out as he continued his chanting, allowing his dark magic to continue engulfing the princess. Once the process was finished, the man released his hold on the princess and stepped back away from the now unconscious body. With another wave of his hands, he too released the Queen and the princess's true love.

Elsa and Kristoff ran over to Anna's unconscious form, "Anna?" Elsa whispered as she caressed her sister's forehead, but then pulled back, "She is burning up!" Facing the man she demanded, "What did you do to her?!"

The man smirked, "You will find out once the sun sets. That is when her transformation will take effect."

"Transformation?" Kristoff asked giving the man a death glare while trying not to jostle his dislocated shoulder, "You release this…your curse at once!"

"I cannot do that. However I like a good game. I told you when you would be able to break her curse, so if you really care for her you will do it yourself, also a word of warning," he held up is hands and much like Pabbie's magic he showed an image of the princess, "Her transformations will become more violent as she loses more of her humanity." Elsa and Kristoff's jaws drop as the image takes a shape of what seemed to be a wolf of some kind, "She will lose all type of human emotion and memories as the beast takes control of her heart and soul."

Once the mist clears, Elsa stood so that her body shielded Kristoff and her unconscious sister, "Why tell us this if you are trying to kill us?"

"Because I like to have fun…also I really hate getting my hands dirty. Remember you have until a night and a day overlap, to bring your sister back."

"Bring her back now!" Elsa yelled and with all of her remaining energy she summoned an ice shard out of the ballroom floor underneath the man, however he vanished in a puff of dark smoke just before it struck him.

Elsa was panting angrily and when she heard her sister groan, she looked at Kristoff who also gave her an anxious look just as the doors of the ballroom were finally forced open by the guards and the servants who took in the devastating scene around them. Before any of them could ask, Elsa ordered them to take Anna to her chambers.


	2. The Escape

**Chapter One: The Escape**

**Six Months Prior to the Prologue-**

In the middle of the ocean, just off the coast of the Kingdom known as the Southern Isles, was an island. This island was the only island were **all **the kingdoms agreed to house some of the most vicious and brutal criminals around. These types of criminals were either murders, rapists, pedophiles, or assassins. However one man was known as a usurper, and he was also the most disliked man in the prison besides the pedophiles. His crime? He was going to leave a woman to freeze to death and tried to kill another while she had her back turned to him. However these were not ordinary women. The woman he was going to allow to freeze to death was the Princess of Arendelle and the other was the Snow Queen of Arendelle. His inmates did not like him not because he tried to steal the throne, it was his plan on how to go about it. "_First of all killing women_?" One man had spat at him, a murderer if Hans remembered correctly, "_Really boy? Second of all, such cowardice to try killing someone while their back is turned_."

Hans sighed as he laid on the cot in his cell listening to the strong gusts of wind that were blowing widely outside. The gusts of wind started to cause major tidal waves to crash onto the beach. He knew that his time was almost coming. While they were not allowed to have any contact with the outside world, he still had his ways. There was another large crash as another violent wave broke in the surface, he sat up and went over to the window, based on how rough the tides were becoming, Hans instinctively knew that these were no ordinary waves.

He watched slightly fascinated as the gusts mysteriously vanished making way to the light of the full moon. In the distance he could make out how the waves started to form into one huge, tsunami like wave. He smirked as he started to hear the warning bells in the jail and the pandemonium that started happening all around him, "Hello Hans." The exiled Prince turned to see another man wearing a black cloak in the shadows of his cell.

He looked to see all the guards running out of the area as the tidal wave was fast approaching. No one bothered to look into his cell or the other few surrounding cells, as the rest of the inmates were calling to the guards, panicking about drowning, "Come we do not have time." The man spoke again holding up an object, it was a small bean.

"How is that supposed to help?" Hans questioned motioning to his hand.

"Do not ask questions. Besides you called me for help, remember?" The man stated and he threw the bean on the ground and it opened up a small vortex, "Jump." The tsunami struck the island's prison as the vortex vanished.

A week later the King received a letter from the prison. His eyes widened in shock and his mind shut down. When his wife found him hours later in his study with red eyes and face pale. All he did was motion to the paper, when she read it all her mind could comprehend was that every inmate in E block of the prison was dead…this meant that the former prince of the Southern Isles was dead. The cause of death was drowning, and when she managed to look at her husband, he was already assembling the rest of the family.

**One Month later**-

Elsa stared blankly at the letter in her hand; she was numb. Her mind was not even able to process what she had read five or six times over. She tried to take in word for word, at first reading silently to herself, then she tried to read the letter out loud, however no matter what she tried, she was not able to comprehend the words that was written so elegantly on the parchment paper. Getting up she paced the length of her study and when that failed she went over to the window and looked outside.

What she saw that instead of making her happy, made her feel incredibly sad and guilty. She saw her little sister, Anna the Princess of Arendelle playing in the grass with Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven. Despite the fact that it had been almost two years since the Great Thaw, she knew that it meant a lot more than that, at least to her and her sister. Two years meant that she revealed her powers, effectively breaking her mantra of 'Concealing and not feeling'. Another thing meant that her sister was almost killed a second time by her hand. Elsa shivered, not because of the frost that started to accumulate, but because of the haunting words that still rang from time to time in her sleep, "_You sister is dead! She said you struck her heart!_" Those words were said by the man that the letter was in regards to.

Sighing she watched as the ice harvester and the snowman led her sister inside, just as a knock on her door echoed, "Your majesty?"

"Yes?" Elsa asked her voice she noticed was hard and shaking.

"Lunch is ready," Kai's explained, "everything ok?"

Elsa nodded to herself, "Yes, everything is ok. I will be down in a bit."

She heard Kai's footsteps retreating down the hall and in that time she took a deep breath and walked back over to her large mahogany desk. Gingerly with a shaky hand, she picked up the letter. Re-reading the letter once more, she folded it back up and made her way down the hall and into the dining room.

As soon as she entered the dining room, she was greeted by her sister who was already seated, "Hi Elsa! You would not believe the day we had!" However seeing that her elder sister was not responding to anything that Anna was saying, "You ok? Did something happen?"

Elsa was looking down at the letter in her hand, "Anna can I speak to you?" Looking up she watched as Olaf and Kristoff stopped their conversation at her tone, "In private?"

Anna hesitated as she recalled the last time her sister had asked to talk to her in private. It was two years ago at the dreaded Coronation and she had just told her sister of her-, "Ok Elsa," Anna nodded getting up.

"Wait," Kristoff said grabbing his girl-friend's arm and looked at Elsa, "what is it? You can say it in front of us, we can help."

Anna looked at her sister who was about to retort. She held up her free hand and then looked at her boyfriend with love, "Its ok Kristoff. I am sure that Elsa just wants to discuss that really long guest list for her birthday party." She kissed him lightly on the cheek, however Elsa could see that there was something up, but she was grateful that he let go of her sister's arms. She could tell that despite giving him her blessing of marriage, Kristoff still insisted on waiting just a bit longer. He wanted to make sure that Anna was good and ready, and Elsa could see that right now Anna was just content with how things were now.

Elsa started walking swiftly out of the dining area and Anna followed her elder sister outside into the hallway and after a few minutes they were in the Queen's study. Anna noticed the frost at the steadily forming on the walls. The twenty-year old learned to read the many signs that showed her sister's emotions, no matter how hard the now twenty-three year old tried to conceal them, "Elsa talk to me please." Anna spoke softly.

Elsa sighed and turned away from her sister. She was still fingering the letter in her hands, "Uhm…I really do not know how to talk to you about this." Elsa admitted finally after a few moments.

Anna cocked her head to the side and was perplexed. It was not often she saw her sister lost for words, "How about you talk about what started this?" She motioned to the frost covered walls and the slowly creeping ice that was coming out of the floor.

Elsa took a deep breath and reminded herself that her sister was here, and looking into her cerulean eyes she was able to have the frost and ice retreat slightly into nothingness, "Ok, well I guess it started with Hans." She spoke the name with caution as she watched Anna stiffen and got a dark look into her eyes.

"Oh." Anna spoke out and walked over to the window and looked outside, "What about the usurper?"

Elsa winced at her sister's tone of voice. It was not uncommon for Anna to still feel the rage of what happened nearly two years ago, "Well you know where he was all this time?"

"Elsa why bring this up now?" Anna demanded her tone slightly harsh due to her agitated state, "We know what happened. You put him on the ship to send him to his brothers, and then they wrote asking if we wanted to send him to the Island of Nam aminae**_*_**, to which we said yes."

Elsa nodded as she took a deeper breath, "Yes we did."

"So again I ask you," Anna spun back around to look her sister dead in the eye, "why, for the good in Arendelle, bring Hans up now?"

The Snow Queen did not speak this time, only held up her hand which held the parchment. Anna looked at her sister's outstretched hand and took it, "What is this?" Anna asked.

"Read it." Elsa stated.

Anna gave her sister a wary look as she unfolded it, "Dear Queen Elsa, as per agreement we have stripped Hans of his title and sent him to the Island of Nam aminae. However we-as in the rest of my brothers and I, have felt it was our duty to inform you and the Princess that Hans-" Anna stopped reading out loud and gasped as she flew a hand up to her mouth.

Elsa was waiting for this moment, because she had the same initial reaction. She watched as her sister's face drain of its color and her breathing became shallower. She watched as Anna's hand went from her mouth and fumbled for one of the mahogany chairs, Anna lowered herself into it and continued reading the rest of the letter.

By the time she was done, she placed the letter on the desk and stared blankly at the wall in front of her. Elsa could not take the silence any longer and asked, "Are you ok Anna?"

Anna clasped her hands together and bowed her head. Was she ok? No. Was she fine? No. So what was she? "I do not know." Anna responded both to her sister's question and her own internal reflection on the status of her emotional stability, "How are you feeling? You ok?" Anna asked eventually after a few moments.

Elsa leaned on her desk and asked herself the same questions. Was she ok? No. Was she fine? Meh, that was debatable in and of itself, however, "I am not too sure." She responded.

"I guess that makes two of us," Anna spoke as she stood up and walked back over to the window.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Elsa asked holding up the letter.

Anna turned and again took the letter out of Elsa's hand and re-looked at it, "What is there to discuss?"

"Well you were kind of close-"

"No. It was a lie." Anna stated bitterly, "One that I was naïve and stupid enough to believe."

"Anna you are being too hard on yourself," Elsa chided gently, "no one, not even me, blames you for what happened."

"Well you are wrong because I still blame me. I was willing to turn my back on my country and my family for the bastard." Elsa winced because of the tone of voice that Anna used. It was very rare to see Anna get this mad, but when she did well everyone better duck and cover, "Anyway what do they expect us to do? Send our condolences, thank them for the information, or what?"

The Queen took the letter back and re-looked it over, "It doesn't seem like they expect anything Anna. I think they just wanted to give us closure that he is gone forever."

"Yes well good riddance." Anna spoke.

"Anna!"

"What that guy tried to kill you! Have you forgotten that?!" Anna demanded.

"Well he left you freeze to death, but that does not really mean that I wished him dead." Elsa stated as she recalled his words to her, '_Do not be the monster they fear you are_.'

Anna looked at her sister in shock, but then realized something…she didn't really wish him dead either. After all despite everything he had done to them, he was technically the only one that could relate to her about being ignored for all of their childhood. He was also first person to have shown her some type of love, he had made her feel wanted and that she was more than a spare. Granted it was all a lie, but still it was a welcome lie after thirteen years of her parents and Elsa ignoring her. Closing her eyes and trying to calm herself down she spoke with her voice softer, "I am sorry…it's just that it's a lot to process and I guess I have not really let go of my anger."

"I can see that," Elsa said slowly not wanting to set her sister off again, "look Anna I-"

"Elsa, I kind of want to stop talking about this now." Anna said as she started walking to the door, "I will be in my study."

"What about lunch?" Elsa asked as Anna opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Elsa followed her sister as she closed her own door, and Anna walked down the opposite end of the dining room.

"I do not have an appetite right now. Let Kristoff know where I am, but that I want to be left alone." And with that Anna quickened her pace.

Elsa sighed as she made her way back to the dining room, where she was bombarded with questions from the snowman and the ice harvester.

In the meantime in the mountains of Arendelle two men hid in a cave, "I have to say, your family held a nice service for someone that was stripped of their family title," the man in the cloak spoke nonchalantly. When he did not receive an answer he sighed and asked in a drawl, "So I rescued you, now what is the next part of this ingenious plan of yours?"

"When are you going to take off that ridiculous cloak so I can see your face?" The exiled/'dead' Prince spoke.

The man snorted, "Trust me it is better that I keep my face hidden. Besides need I remind you again that you asked me for help?"

"No," Hans bit back bitterly, "besides the next part of the plan requires a bit of waiting."

"Waiting? For how long?"

"A couple months."

"Seriously?" The man asked dumbfounded, "You have me break you out just so you could wait and then have me kill them? What sense does that make?"

"No, I had you break me out so you could kill the Queen and that commoner, then capture the Princess. She is who I want." Hans growled, "Besides there is going to be a ball in a couple months. We can use this time to study the ins and outs of the kingdom."

"I have the power of sorcery…I could get in and out in no time."

"I want to do this right."

The man spoke no more however he was seriously regretting teaming up with this infant like Prince. However he was getting paid a generous amount for his talents, but the question was coming to if all of this was worth it? "Think you could get me a disguise or something? We should go to town and get supplies and food." Hans said.

The mystical assassin sighed, no this was starting to become a waste of his time, but for now he figured he would play along. After all it has been a while since he had some type of fun, and perhaps this ignorant fool and his enemies could provide entertainment he had not had for millenniums.

**A/N:**

*****Nam aminae- Latin for Lost Souls so the name of the prison that Hans was in for my story was the Island of Lost Souls


	3. Rememberances

**Chapter Two: Remembrances **

Anna was in her study that Elsa had given to her when she had returned as Queen. Anna had begged to be given some sort of responsibility that would help make Elsa's job easier, and Elsa had complied. Unlike Elsa's responsibility which mainly consisted of political, trade, and the more serious aspects of the job that comes with the matters of the state, Anna's specialty had been consisted of any and all types of festivities of the kingdom that Arendelle would host. Right now with the anniversary of the Great Thaw and Elsa's birthday approaching in just a few months; papers, books, and documents were scattered every which way, which was again totally opposite of her sister's neat and organized study. However whenever Elsa would comment on the chaos, Anna would reply that it was organized chaos.

Although currently, as Anna stood in the middle of the room, would not call this her usual organized chaos. This was more or less complete apocalyptic chaos. Papers and books were thrown from the desk, folders that held important budget information were found every which way on the floor, the two mahogany chairs that were in front of her large desk were flipped, and Anna was standing amidst of the chaos that used to be her organized chaos study panting like she had just ran from Marshmallow and jumped off the twenty foot cliff by her sister's pristine ice palace.

However she then started to pant faster and now she was in a full blown panic attack as she took a seat on the small couch by the fire place, "No…" she muttered out as she hid her face in her hands, but the memory came forward anyway.

"_She froze my heart and only an act of true love can save me._" She heard herself plea to the man that she thought was her true love.

She hears his voice as if it was happening before her and sees him kneeling next to her, "_A true love's kiss._" He says as a look of understanding flashes across his face.

They look at each other and, as Anna is remembering, she feels her heart accelerating and her body shivering, trying to warm itself against her sister's curse. She feels his gloved hand take her chin and he gives her a tender smile, they are leaning in close…slowly and gently. Anna shakes her head as she sees the memory play out as he stops, "_Oh, Anna. If only there was someone out there who loved you._"

Just as she hears those words ringing in her ears, she feels herself dropping to the floor and covering her ears, trying desperately to block them out. She opens her eyes and sees that the fire place is not lit and more panic sets in. She feels herself shivering uncontrollably. She hears more of Hans proclaiming how he never loved her, how he was going to kill Elsa just to steal the throne, "Anna!" She hears a voice outside her door.

However she does not register it as being in the present day. Instead as she stares blankly into the fire place and her mind flashes to the fjord, "_Anna!_" She hears Kristoff as she stands in the middle of her sister's self-created snow storm.

"**_Kristoff_**," she calls out feebly in both her memory and her present state.

Suddenly the storm stops and she sees him, however in the distant part of her conscious state, she is vaguely aware of the banging and pounding on her door, but that is overcome by another sound…a sound that had haunted her at night for months after the actual incident. It is the sound of a sword being pulled from its sheath. Her body is starting to become fully paralyzed as in her mind's eye she is once again experiencing the fright of watching as the red haired prince is ready to strike her sister, "**_Elsa_**," says just as feebly.

"Anna!" The voices are getting louder, but Anna ignores the calls and her heart rate is accelerating faster and her breathing is becoming heavier.

Then she suddenly hears her double doors being broken in just as she calls out, "**_NO!_**" As two people sneak up on her and force her to turn and face them.

"ANNA!" Kristoff yells trying to snap his girlfriend out of whatever memory she was currently trapped in.

Anna however couldn't breathe still as she tried to fight Kristoff's embrace, she was still unaware of anything going on around her, "No! Elsa! Please!"

"Anna I am here," Elsa came over beside Kristoff as she stepped over the mountains of disarray paraphernalia. She too tried to rub her sister's back, "I am here Anna."

Anna started to calm down and looked to see Elsa and Kristoff, "Elsa? Kristoff?"

Kristoff smiled gently, "Yes I am here."

"Me too," Elsa said also smiling.

Anna started to break down and tried to cling to the both of them. Elsa and Kristoff shared a weighted look. Elsa had told Kristoff and Olaf what had happened about the letter and how Anna wanted to be left alone. However looking around in the warzone that was her study, leaving her alone was probably not the best option.

After a few moments, Anna calm down, "I am sorry." Anna muttered out as she pulled away from her sister and boyfriend.

"No sweetie, no need to be sorry." Elsa said softly as she continued to stroke her sister's hand.

"You have every right to go off the deep end every once in a while." Kristoff said.

Anna gave them a watery smile and looked around the room, "If you can even call this going off the deep end; which now I have to reorganize thanks to my temper tantrum."

"You can do it later," Kristoff said as he stood up and pulled the two woman up with him.

Anna shook her head as she started to pick up the books and papers and folders, "No, there is a lot that needs to get down. Elsa's birthday is coming up along with the anniversary of the Thaw. I have the guest list that needs to go over and decorations to finalize and-"

"Sheesh and you tell me to take breaks." Elsa laughed as she took some of the books and folders from her sister and placed them on the desk, "Come on sis let's get out of here for a bit."

Anna looked at Elsa and then at Kristoff. Seeing that none of them were going to let her stay isolated in her office like she still kind of wanted, she relented, "Ok fine."

Kristoff held out his hand and smiled at her, Anna chuckled and took it just as Elsa also held out her hand which Anna had also grabbed. Together along with Olaf they walked out of the study and walked outside toward the direction of the gates.

Passing multiple shops, Anna never seemed to get over the multiple talents that their people had in their particular trades. For instance the tailors who made magnificent clothes out the different types of fabrics, or the bakers who made pastries, or even the woodworkers who could make anything out of the wood. Anna was always amazed, she looked at her sister and could see just the same amount of awe-ness and appreciation for her people. It was hard to believe that they were closed off for so long from their kingdom. Kristoff left the sisters alone and walked with Olaf who was trailing behind them in order to give them privacy. He was in deep thought as to what had happened. It had been a long time since he saw Anna experience any type of meltdown. In fact if he recalled correctly, this was the worst he had seen it. How could one letter, one in his opinion was nothing sort of justified actions, cause this? He shook his head thinking that it did not matter. As he watched Anna interacted with her sister as if nothing happened, it brought a smile to his face. This is how his fiery red head should be. Smiling and laughing, not crying and seemingly broken without hope.

"Kristoff look at this!" Olaf called. Kristoff paused and went over to the snowman, "What is this for?" He pointed to the stick in the woodcutters' window.

Kristoff smiled again and watched as the sisters linked arms, completely oblivious to the two who were no longer following them, "That is called a hockey stick I believe." He responded and proceeded to tell the snowman what a hockey stick was.

Elsa was laughing at her sister's expression as she guzzled down her second glass of water. They had stopped by one of the stands who was lending out free samples of something called salsa. It was dip from a foreign country that Elsa had recently set up trade with; and based on Anna's expression it was definitely spicy, "Anna I do not think you were supposed to scoop up that much on one chip."

"Gee, you couldn't have warned me before hand?" Anna panted out as she took another gulp of water.

Elsa shared an amused look with the vendor. They did try and warn the princess, but of course the princess had a mind of her own. Anna scowled at Elsa, who continued to try the vendor's different delicacies. Shaking her head she continued down the road looking at the different stands that the people had out, however she did not get far before colliding into someone. Boxes that the man was carrying spilled everywhere, "Oh my I am so sorry!" Anna exclaimed as she scrabbled around getting the man's stuff.

"No no it was completely my fault." Anna looked up and saw that the man had stark white hair and was older looking, she would guess about fifty. However what made her pause was the man's eyes, "Are you ok miss? You look like you have seen a ghost."

Anna shook her head and stood up as she gathered some of the parcels. She held the man's parcels out to him that she managed to grab, "Yes uhm sorry…but you look really familiar. Have we met before?"

The man frowned and Anna felt chills go up and down her spine. Even that frown and just face in general was really familiar, "No cannot say we have. My name is Henrik, and I apologize for running into you."

"Oh my name is Anna…Princess Anna." Anna said remembering to curtsy.

"Oh!" The man exclaimed, "My lady!" He bowed deeply, now she was severely certain that she had met this man before. His mannerisms were the same as…**his**.

Before Anna could speak again, another voice called out to them, "Papa! There you are!" They turned as a young man runs over to them, "I have been looking everywhere for you." He says.

"Alastair," Henrik chides, "you are interrupting our conversation."

The young man named Alastair had short jet black hair, his body was built, and he had deep, stormy, ocean green colored eyes that could pierce into her very soul, "My apologies." He said his tone sounding like honey.

Anna waved him off as Henrik said, "My lady this is my son Alastair. Alastair this is Princess Anna of Arendelle." Anna summoned every ounce of her control not to shiver at the way the old man said her name. It was like some sort of instinct was telling her to find Elsa and Kristoff and get away from these two men.

"Oh," Alastair said sounding impressed. He turned to her and bowed deeply, "my lady it is my pleasure to meet you." He gingerly took her hand in his and kissed the top of it.

"The pleasure is mine," she said trying to control the hesitance in her voice, "uhm…but I actually have to get going." She slid her hand from the young man's grasp, "Once again I apologize for running into you earlier."

Henrik managed to wave her off, "As I said, it was my bad. Enjoy the rest of your day…"

"Same to you." With that she casually, yet quickly walked back from where she came to rejoin her sister who had just found Olaf and Kristoff. When she joined them, she tried to pretend like nothing happened, however when she looked back to see if the two men were there, she saw that they vanished. Quickly looking around she saw no sign of them.

"Hey you ok?" Olaf asked noticing his friend's strange behavior.

Elsa and Kristoff looked at Anna with worry, "Uhm…yea I am fine." I hope, she added in her head.

"You sure? We can go back if you want." Elsa suggested.

"No, I am fine. Let's go into here." Anna said pointing to the dress shop, and before any protests could be made, Anna dragged them inside.

In the meantime, the two men who were in town appeared out of a cloud of smoke in their cave, "You nearly gave us away!" The young man yelled. He was now back in his black cloak with his face covered, his voice sounding menacing as it loss all trace of its honey sweetness.

"I am sorry," the older man's appearance melted away leaving Hans standing where the old man once stood, "but I couldn't help but mess with her a bit."

The hood man growled with frustration as he ripped apart the boxes that they had brought in town. He was pulling out different herbs and spices along with a variety of other items, "I do not know why I even bother with you! No wonder your previous plan failed!"

"Excuse me? Just who the hell do you think you are talking to?!" Hans demanded with as much authority as he could.

"A moron! A monkey could have done better than what you did! You are reckless and stupid!" The cloaked figure yelled back, "If I had not showed up, she would have started putting the pieces together."

Hans scoffed and started to pull out his own items, "Please, she did not even recognize me."

"See there is that arrogance. She is not stupid you known. She started to recognize you with your mannerisms and saying the same things like the first day you two met. I mean there is only so much magic I can do to disguise you."

Hans paused and replayed the words the man just said, "Wait…what did you mean like how we met?"

"You know when you knocked her over with your horse on her sister's coronation day."

"How do you know about that? I never told you about that."

Hans could see the man smiling underneath the hood, "You did not think I wouldn't do research on who my employer was? I know everything about you, and I know everything about them." Hans held back a shiver as he continued, "I know all of your pasts and presents. Hell if I wanted to, I could see your futures."

"So do we win?" Hans asked.

"I said if I wanted to. However I choose not to. I make my own rules and my own games." Seeing Hans was about to argue, the man held up a hand and effectively silenced him, "Look I said I would help in any way I could and I will, but remember what I told you when you first summoned me?"

Hans thought back to that very first day. He was still in his castle with his brothers under house arrest at the time with a guard escort. He had found his way to the library and had taken an old tattered book. He had been looking for any way to try and get revenge, and that is how he discovered his companion in front of him, "You said you believed in a deeper purpose for all people."

The man nodded, "Yes I do believe in a deeper purpose and I like a good game. A game of challenges filled with suspense and nifty twists and turns."

"You are not planning to betray me now are you?" Hans asked warily all of a sudden.

The man smirked, "If I wanted to betray you, I would have let you die in my tsunami. No, we made a little pact." For now, the man thought to himself as Hans took this as an end to the conversation. As the hooded figure observed the young exiled prince return to his newly acquired items, he could not help but continue that train of thought, you are proving useful but soon your purpose will run dry…

Then his thoughts turned to the young princess. Now there was someone with a deeper purpose. He had penetrated her soul and saw something that he had not seen in over a millennium. When he had first heard of the Arendelle sisters, he had thought nothing of them. Sure the whole ending of the eternal winter thing was significant, but it was a fluke in his mind. However the more Hans had spoken of them, the more intrigue he had gotten. Now that he met the woman in question, he was curious. As he penetrated her soul he saw a light so bright, he could feel his magic weakening and that was not good. If he light could melt the powers of ice and snow, he couldn't fathom what it could do to his powers if she was allowed to remain as she was.

No, the man thought to himself as he summoned his book and went to his side of their dingy hideout, Hans's plan would not work; not unless he wanted to risk losing his magic. However he had to be sure. Snapping the book shut he made his decision, once the sun set he had more studying to do, but he had to wait until sunset as he looked over to the prince who was trying to get a small fire started to cook their meal on. Sighing at the failed attempts his thoughts again turned to the prince, yes his purpose was most certainly coming to an end…and it was coming to an end fast.


	4. Beginning of the End

**Chapter Three: Beginning of the End **

**One Month before Prologue-**

Sleep, what a wonderful concept. Wouldn't everyone agree? But what is it about sleep that makes everyone crave it? Sleep is defined as the natural periodic suspension of consciousness during which the powers of the body are restored. Or another pleasant definition of sleep is the ability to rest your mind and body by closing your eyes and becoming unconscious. Yes, sleep did sound like a nice word and more so a nice experience…of which was sourly out of the reach of the princess of Arendelle, and has been out of reach since the moment she read that damned letter from the Southern Isles.

No wait a minute, Anna thought to herself as she paced her study. It had been out of reach since that trip into town and when she met that old man and his son. She had been having really explicit nightmares. Nightmares that had her re-experiencing the event in the library and then again on the fjord. Only in that instant, she was too late to save Elsa. It was also at that point the nightmare shifts into something that was also borderline unpleasant and horrendous; there would always be a man in a black cloak torturing her sister and Kristoff. He was making her choose which one to save. She would try and go after him to try and save them both, but something in the end would always happen to her…no matter how hard she tried. It was really creepy because the next morning she would always feel like she had fought the battle for her life.

She sighed heavily and stopped pacing her study and looked at the papers that laid disheveled on her desk. They were RSVPs and invoices for the ball next month that celebrated the Thaw and Elsa's birthday. She had been burying herself in the work in order to escape thinking about those nightmares; in other words she was taking a leaf out of Elsa's 'Concealing and not feeling' method, but it was failing her miserably. She was not one to conceal and not feel, she was more reveal and feel type person. That is only because of that freak in the black cloak that wouldn't show his face, Anna thought bitterly to herself as she looked at the mirror above the fire place. To make matters worse, the nightmares only seemed to intensify in strength as the date of the ball was drawing ever closer.

Without her make-up on, she would be able to see really dark circles under her eyes, and her eyes themselves were red. She was also not eating as much as she used to because every time she woke up, it left a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that even the thought of food was nauseating to her. Elsa and Kristoff had not noticed her changes was a blessing in her mind, because she really did not want to worry them. However that blessed feeling was sort lived as once again she was drawn to the thoughts of her nightmares, and suddenly a claustrophobic feeling came to her, she had to get out of here now!

Throwing her door open she trots down the hallway, "Princess Anna!" she heard a woman call her name.

Not stopping or slowing her pace, she looked at the woman who had caught up to her stride, "Gerda what is it?"

"Queen Elsa wishes to see you." Gerda said just managing to get out through huffs as she struggled to keep up with the princess's pace.

"About what? Is it life or death related?" Anna asked, her voice strained as she tried to slow her pace down.

Gerda smiled thankfully that Anna slowed down as they continued down the hall, but seeing the Princess up close for the first time in a week, she saw that Anna looked rather ill, "No, nothing overly serious, but your sister wishes to talk with you. She said it has been awhile since you two had hung out."

Anna sighed. Just as she was piled under mounds of work for the ball, Elsa had been under mounds of trade agreements and multiple budget crisis work, "Well tell her I am busy please." Anna was aware of the desperation of her voice. She couldn't face her sister, not when she just experienced her failure in her nightmare.

Gerda finally caught the princess's arms and they came to a halt, and that is when the woman took in Anna's full appearance, "Are you feeling well? It is not like you to turn down an invite from your sister to hang out." Especially not when you longed for her love and affection for years, the older woman thought as she looked deeply into Anna's almost bloodshot eyes.

Anna felt her heart rate picking up and she noticed that the walls were almost closing in around her. She pulled her arm free from the grasp, "I am fine. I just need to escape for a while. Please do not tell Elsa that you saw me."

"I cannot lie to her your highness. You and I know that." Gerda said gently to her surrogate daughter, "Now please what is wrong?"

Anna closed her eyes and attempted to get her breathing under control. Once that was accomplished she debated on telling the woman who she thought of as a surrogate mother. However she internally shot down that idea, "Nothing is wrong. Like I said, I cannot be here anymore. I am just going to take Pharis on a run and I will be back."

Seeing that Anna did not want to talk about what was troubling her, the woman relented, "Ok…is that what you want me to tell her majesty?"

Anna started to walk away, "I do not care. Tell her what you see fit, just make sure you tell her or anyone that if they need me…" Anna now was in a full on sprint down the stairs so she had to yell, "Don't!" Gerda sighed and shook her head, she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She could not pin-point the exact cause, but she knew that the time of peace in Arendelle was going to be coming to an end.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Gerda walks back in the direction she had just came and slowly approaches two large mahogany doors. Knocking on the doors she hears the permission to enter and opens them to reveal the Queen sitting on the couch with a book in her hand, "Oh Gerda, did you see Anna?"

The woman sighed and played with her hands trying to formulate the words of rejection, "Yes," she hesitated seeing the hopeful look in the young monarch's eyes, "but she was heading out when I saw."

Elsa's narrowed her eyes in confusion and cocked her head to the side and straightened her posture, "Heading out?"

"Yes your majesty." Gerda paused and decided to bite the bullet, "I do not think she is well. She looked really pale and distracted when she left."

"Where did she say she was going?" Elsa asked as she bookmarked her page and stood up.

"She said she was going to take Pharis, her horse, for a ride. Normally they go to the stadium." Gerda said as Elsa ran out the door.

Elsa knew something was wrong. That was part of the reason why she wanted to talk with her sister, for quite some time she and Kristoff knew and saw Anna's strange behavior. It was almost a direct reflection of how she acted for over a month after the incident with Hans. However unlike Anna who would push them to find out what was wrong, Kristoff and Elsa decided to give her space and have her work through whatever she was going through on her own, however after seeing her at breakfast they decided that an intervention was in order; and since Kristoff was working on the mountain for a few days, Elsa said she would take care of it.

Elsa sprinted out the door and made her way to the stadium. The stadium was used as an old training area for the guards to practice their fighting styles and techniques. When she arrived she heard Anna voice, "Yah! Come on Pharis! Yah!"

She entered the area and saw Anna on top of her horse as they cantered around the area performing a variety of agility exercises. She paused and watched in amazement at how Anna could sometimes be so unbelievably clumsy, to looking so confident and graceful on a horse. She always had known that Anna was an excellent horseback rider, and was able to do things so gracefully on a horse that she couldn't do on her own two feet. So she watched as Anna had a steel look in her eyes and face totally void of any emotion as Anna and Pharis jumped over different obstacles of different heights. Some were as short as a small fence and others were almost as half as tall as a man.

Elsa sighed wistfully, wishing that she could do what Anna was doing. Leaning against the wall so she could watch Anna's movements more closely, she reflected how their father wanted her to try learning, "_It would give you a bit more respect_." He had once told her why she should learn. However Elsa shook her head and declined saying that she was afraid of losing control of her powers on a horse, not only that but being on a horse had brought back bad memories to that night being on their mother's horse to see the troll when she had-

Shaking her head she stopped that thought. She refused to think about that night. The whole point of being out here was to find a way to help support Anna, not dwell on her own self-induced guilt. Focusing back on her sister she stood straight up in alarm, "Anna!" Elsa yelled in fright. Anna had literally stood on Pharis's back and they were cantering at a fast pace around the arena. However Anna did not seem to have heard her; before Elsa could do anything, Anna jumped off of Pharis's back and did a summersault in the air and somehow managed to land on her own two feet, seemingly unharmed.

"ANNA!" Anna turned to see Elsa storming over to her as Pharis slowed to a trot seeing that his rider was not going to chase after him like she normally did.

"Elsa? What are you doing here?" Anna asked as she grabbed Pharis's reins and met her sister half way. She had succeeded in distracting herself from her nightmares, and she finally had her head on straight; but seeing Elsa here made her re-start thinking about her experiences.

"You gave me a heart attack!" Anna winced, but Elsa did not notice, "What the hell are you thinking standing on a horse and flipping off of one like that?!" The older woman yelled, completely ignoring her younger sister's question.

Anna composed herself and looked at Pharis who was also giving her a 'what the hell' look, "Relax Elsa I've done these stunts tons of times before. In fact I learned it from Reynolds."

"Someone actually taught you that?!" Elsa again yelled.

Pharis reared up unexpectedly as a sudden burst of snow came out of nowhere. Anna was quick and stood between Elsa and Pharis, "Easy Pharis. It's ok." Getting her horse to calm down, Anna glared at her sister. However seeing that Elsa was just as scared, she softened her glare, but still looked sternly at her sister, "You need to calm down a bit too. It is not a good idea to spook a horse. Now take a deep breath." Elsa closed her eyes and did as she was told, however the image of her younger sister pulling such a dangerous stunt still lingered in her mind's eye.

Still seeing Elsa was really tense, Anna started to feel guilty all over again. All she ever did was hurt her sister; in fact she knew that Elsa had entered the stadium and was watching her. She figured that Gerda had told her where her riding stop was; but neither here nor there, Anna had been watching Elsa out of the corner of her eye the whole time she and Pharis were doing the agility exercises. They had done different jumps and movements and it had looked like Elsa was really impressed with her. So she had figured why not do the vaulting tricks that Reynolds had taught her in secret? Reynolds had been the only guard that had taught Anna anything about horse tricks and pretty much anything that could be of use in a dire situation when she had asked. Of course he made her promise never to: One- tell anyone that he taught her any of this and two- never to try anything dangerous unless someone (namely him) was watching her closely. She had kept number one a secret until now when she just told Elsa (but that didn't matter now, she thought mournfully) and number two was kept for a good number of years until he deemed her a professional.

Looking around she waited until her sister's tense posture relaxed, "A bit better?" Anna asked her voice laced with guilt.

"Yes, but not even close." Elsa stated eyes narrowed at Anna. Seeing that Anna was looking extremely guilty, Elsa relaxed her gaze, "Anna please talk to me. I know something is wrong and we promised each other no more secrets."

Anna looked away again, except this time it was at the sky. She estimated the time to be late in the afternoon, still time before dinner…she mused to herself, but looking back at Elsa, she could see the desperation in her sister's eyes. Sighing she took a hold of Pharis's reins, "Ok I guess I will tell you, but not here." Anna mounted on Pharis, "Hop on. I know a place that is more suitable to discuss this. Just please…" Anna added softly seeing Elsa was not going to agree.

Elsa groaned and was about to decline, but seeing her sister looking so guilt ridden and then back at the horse. She relented after about a minute, "Fine help me up." Anna held her hand out and Elsa grabbed it and took her position, "Just no crazy stunts!" Anna winced and nodded. She commanded Pharis to move and the horse slowly trotted out of the arena.

Later that night, Elsa and Anna had returned from their ride. Anna had excused herself to her room, leaving Elsa alone in the dining room. She was served some tea, she sat there and contemplated what Anna had revealed to her, "Hey." Turning her head she saw Kristoff enter the room and took his seat next to her.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were out for a few days." Elsa stated.

He shrugged, "I was, but the crew sent me home. It was not that big of an area anyway." He looked at her and he could tell something was wrong, "What's up? Did you talk to Anna?"

Elsa nodded sadly, "Yes I did. We went for a ride on Pharis and she told me what exactly her problem was over the course of these past few months."

"And?" Kristoff asked after a lengthy pause.

"She has been having nightmares." Elsa said looking into her empty cup, "Really bad ones by the sounds of it. I think that letter from the Southern Isles really affected her more than she let on."

"But that was a few months ago!"

"Yea and your point?" Elsa asked cocking an eyebrow, "Remember what happened after the incident with him? She had nightmares for weeks and would not let either of us out of her sight. However it is not just the memories she said that are plaguing her. She has other nightmares, nightmares about us getting hurt at the ball."

Kristoff was silent for a moment and asked slowly, "So is it just the pressure of the ball or-"

"I do not know. I told her we could just cancel or postpone the ball, but she was adamant about moving forward with it. However there was one other thing…"

"What is it?"

"She asked if we could have more security present. Like undercover security."

"Really?" Kristoff asked stunned, "What is she expecting to happen?"

Elsa shook her head, "I have no idea, but the way she looked at me…it was like she was expecting me to disappear at any moment. Kristoff it is like I am losing her again."

"We will never lose her. Anna fought tooth and nail to get to you." Kristoff reached out and held her hand, "All we can do is prove to her that everything is ok and we are not planning on leaving her any time soon." Elsa looked at him and felt instantly better. He was right, this is Anna they were talking about. Everything would be ok…it just had to be.

In the cave the man in the black cloak sits by a crystal ball watching the princess sit by the window in her room. He had once again just entered her dreams and saw the fiery spirit that she possesses. Yes, he thinks to himself, this is prefect. After plaguing her dreams for months, he is absolutely sure that this is the direction he wants to go in, "So are we all set?" Hans asks coming up behind him.

"Yes we are." The man replies trying his best not to allow any harm to come to the prince, "By the time the ball comes around the Queen and the Harvester will be dead and the Princess will be yours..." Well mostly yours, he thought to himself. He knows that the prince would not be happy when he sees the outcome of the plan. But he had morals and values, aka he values people more that have a deeper purpose. Moral side it is not right to kill people with that type of purpose.

Hans nods, "Soon I will have Arendelle and you can have your cut." Hans slaps the man in the back, "You my friend might even have a place in my court if you are interested."

The man smiled, no he was not interested. Been there done that, and it was not all that great. Working for men that totally had no regard for their consequences. However he nodded, "We will see my friend."

Hans smirked and walked away, "Come on we have to get your outfit ready."

The man huffed and followed the prince, but not before looking at the crystal ball one more time. The princess had gotten back into bed, "I am sorry for this Princess Anna. But know that this is all a part of something great. You are going to be a part of something great." The ball went dim and the man walked away as Anna settled back into a dreamless sleep.

**One Month Later (The time of the prologue)-**

The ball had been in full swing, Elsa stood and played the grateful host, Anna wandered around and greeted people, conversing; she even danced with Kristoff. Olaf had also been having a great time by talking with people and getting warm hugs. In every ones' mind, nothing could go wrong. Anna was in the middle of a dance with Kristoff when it suddenly happened. The music stopped playing and heads turned to the doors which were open. Screams and shouting and loud bangs were occurring, "Quick! Get everyone out of here!" Elsa ordered.

The guards, who were undercover as guests as per Anna's odd request, led the people out of the room through the back door of the ballroom area. Olaf was in the middle of the crowd and Elsa and Kristoff were trying to push Anna to go with them, "Anna please-"

"No! I am staying here." Anna said firmly as she fought against their holds.

"Anna please I cannot lose you." Elsa said begging her sister to understand.

Before Anna could respond the door were thrown shut magically and they jumped as a hoarse male voice said, "Oh you will not be losing her. She will be losing you two." Turning they saw a man in a black cloak, however before they could move, he waved his hand and suddenly they were thrown backwards into the wall.

The man sauntered forward, "Well it is a pleasure your majesty, and allow me to compliment you on your fine kingdom. In fact it is the most successful kingdom I have seen in millenniums."

"Millenniums? Just who the hell are you and what do you want?" Elsa demanded as she got up followed by Kristoff. Anna tried to get up, but her sister and Kristoff blocked her near the wall.

"That is for me to know and you to find out." The man said and once again waved his hand.

There was a giant burst of electricity coming at them, and Elsa managed to pull up a large ice shield to block his attack, "Anna you have to get out of here!" Elsa grunted out.

"No I am not leaving you!"

"Kristoff!" Elsa yelled looking at the man.

He did not want to leave Elsa alone either, but they knew that as far as Anna was concerned they had an understanding. So without warning he reached down and pulled Anna up and ran to the door, "Kristoff! We can't leave her!"

"Anna there is nothing we can do! We have to get you to safety!" Kristoff stated firmly as they raced to the doors.

The man in the black cloak saw them leave and stopped his attack on Elsa, "No you two get to stay!" He waved his hands and the suits of armor came to life halting Kristoff and Anna.

Elsa took this advantage and sent ice shards towards the man who responded with fire, effectively melting her ice, "Got to do better than that." Then he refocused on the Queen.

Kristoff and Anna watched as the suits advanced towards them. They started swinging their swords at the couple, "Ok I am open to any ideas." Kristoff stated.

"Yea I got nothing accept stay away from the swords. They are actually sharpened and not used for decoration." Anna explained as they continued to retreat.

"Do I want to know how you know that?" Kristoff asked.

"No not really."

Elsa and the man continued to throw magic and ice at each other. However Elsa knew she was weakening fast and her magic was no use against the man's fire power, "What exactly are you?" She asked as he continued to throw fireballs at her.

"I am a man of many talents that I have learned over the millenniums. I am a priest, but that is all you are getting." Out of the corner of his eye he can see that the harvester and the princess were getting cornered, "Bring me the harvester and leave the princess!" He commanded.

Kristoff looked around, seeing that they were not going to make it out of this he pushed Anna aside and allowed the suits to take him, "No! Kristoff!" Anna yelled from her position on the floor and in that same moment she watched as her sister was over taken by the man as well, "No Elsa!"

"I am a very reasonable man Queen Elsa." The man taunted as one of the suits held Anna away from his captors and the other brought Kristoff over to them, "My employer has asked me to only kill you and the harvester over here. Nice of you to join us." the man said nodding politely to Kristoff.

"Didn't think I had much of a choice." Kristoff growled out as the armor released him and now he was immobilized by the man's magic.

"Who is your employer?" Elsa bit out as she looked over at her sister. She remembered the nightmare that Anna had described and based on the panic look in Anna's eyes, it would seem as if the nightmare was coming alive.

They couldn't see the man's full face, except for his sick sweet smile, "Someone you know very well your majesty."

"Who is you employer?" Elsa repeated trying to fight the man's hold. However the more they tried to get away the tighter the hold became.

The man did not know if they were supposed to know, however he stole glances to the princess, who was desperately trying to break free. No she was not quite ready just yet, perhaps she needs a bit more encouragement, "Well I guess I can tell you, after all you are going to die anyway. His name is Prince Hans of the Southern Isles."

Now all movement stopped, "Hans is dead!" He heard Anna protest angrily.

"No, he is very much alive. I staged that tsunami and we escaped. I can assure you Princess Anna," Anna saw his smile and red glowing eyes from the man, "he is alive." The way he said her name brought chills down her spine. It was like a distant memory of someone that said her name the exact same way, "Now then, back to my job. I was ordered to kill you and spare the princess. Surely that should bring the both of you some piece of mind. Although I must commend you on your fighting style your majesty, I have not had that much fun in years."

They entrapment became tighter and they felt as if all blood flow throughout their body was being cut off. They were really going to die. That much was clear to the infamous Snow Queen and the Royal Ice Harvester and Deliver. However their only saving grace was that Anna had been spared by this mystical assassin. He was wearing a black cloak that hid his face, however his voice was dark and hoarse as he outstretched his hand and summoned his dark power as he tried to finish the job he was assigned to do. He released his bindings and they were still standing, but they were really weak.

Seeing that the Queen was weakening and the man next to her was injured, he started to chant, "Your blood is boiling, soon your lungs will sear, your body will overheat," he pauses in his chant and watches as the Queen and the blonde haired man fall down to their knees gasping for the oxygen that would never reach their lungs, "and death will come." He finished.

Anna watches as her sister and boyfriend start to convulse on the floor. With a furious yell she manages to free herself of her capture and seeing one of the swords lying on the floor she quickly picks it up and swings in at the suit of armor where it clatters to the floor. The other one comes after her and she once again takes the sword and swings it, hitting it just right and it too clatters. Now she throws the sword aside and sprints to the assassin.

He waited for them to start convulsing on the floor, it would have only taken a matter of minutes. However his concentration was interrupted as a body slammed into him. Elsa and Kristoff felt air returning as their bodies started to return to normal functioning status. However their relief was short lived as they saw Anna and the man wrestling on the ground. But before Elsa could do anything to summon her already weak powers, the man managed to triumph over Anna. They watched as he summoned a ball of dark magic and as soon as it hit the Princess, she was thrown backward just mere feet away from them, "Anna!" They yelled as they tried to run over to her.

However the man was quicker and put them in steel chains that he had summoned, "Not so fast." He purred to them, "I wouldn't bother to struggle. They will only get tighter."

Elsa and Kristoff stopped struggling as the man sauntered over to the now injured princess laying on the ground. Anna grunted as she tried to sit up, but she was already being levitated off the ground and her body was paralyzed as she was forced to face the hooded mystical assassin, "Well Princess Anna, I give you a chance to live, yet here you are sacrificing yourself to try and save them." Just like I knew you would, he adds in his mind feeling very pleased with himself.

Anna did not blink at him, and only responded in a growl, "I will always save them."

"So loyal…just like a dog," he looked at her and used his magic to get a read on the princess before him. While yes his job was to only kill the harvester and the queen and leave the princess alone, but now he was absolutely sure. He decided that he would take advantage of this and have a bit more…fun…why kill them when the person they love most would or could do it?

Anna saw a wicked smile form from underneath the hood and before she could speak again, the man's hoarse voice beat her to it, "No I apologize you are not a dog. Dogs are only loyal to an extent…however your loyalty goes deeper…much like a wolf. Wolves are known to fight for their pack and you my dear," sauntering closer Anna could smell his wretched breath, "fulfill that requirement." Turning to the Queen and Kristoff he spoke, "I spare your lives this time, because I believe in a deeper sense of purpose."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Elsa growled out trying to summon her magic, however she was failing.

"You get away from her!" Kristoff yelled in a deadly tone.

The man laughed which caused chills to run up and down the spines of the captives in the room, "I do not believe either of you are in the position to be making demands or asking questions. However being the gentleman that I am, I will answer them. Princess Anna here is going to be your assassin."

"What?!" The three of them yelled.

"I will do no such thing!" Anna yelled defiantly, "I would never do that! There is no way in hell that is happening!" She was trying to break free, but finding that she was completely immobile.

"Oh yes you are dearie, because you will no longer be you. Your identity will be lost and you will be nothing but an animalistic monster to not only yourself, but to them as well." The man explained; and before another wave of objections and threats could be said he started to chant, "By night one way, by day another. This curse will take hold forever-until a night and a day overlap, this will be the only time to take this curse back."

Anna could feel her body becoming on fire as waves of pain were coursing through every fiber of her being. Her heart was starting to accelerate that she too thought it was on fire. _He is burning me alive! Not even being struck by Elsa was this painful_! However it was as she could feel her own body changing as she felt each of her bones breaking and reforming. Elsa and Kristoff were yelling at the man, however their voices were drowned out by Anna's agonizing screams. The man tuned all this out as he continued his chanting, allowing his dark magic to continue engulfing the princess. Once the process was finished, the man released his hold on her and stepped back away from the now unconscious body. With another wave of his hands, he too released the Queen and the princess's true love.

Elsa and Kristoff ran over to Anna's unconscious form, "Anna?" Elsa whispered as she caressed her sister's forehead, but then pulled back, "She is burning up!" Facing the man she demanded, "What did you do to her?!"

The man smirked, "You will find out once the sun sets tomorrow night. That is when her transformation will take effect."

"Transformation?" Kristoff asked giving the man a death glare while trying not to jostle his dislocated shoulder, "You release this! Your curse! Release it at once!"

"I cannot do that. However I like a good game. I told you when you would be able to break her curse, so if you really care for her you will do it yourself, also a word of warning," he held up is hands and much like Pabbie's magic he showed an image of the princess, "Her transformations will become more violent as she loses more of her humanity." Elsa and Kristoff's jaws drop as the image takes a shape of what seemed to be a wolf of some kind, "She will lose all type of human emotion and memories as the beast takes control of her heart and soul."

Once the mist clears, Elsa stood so that her body shielded Kristoff and her unconscious sister, "Why tell us this if you and Hans are trying to kill us?"

"Because I like to have fun…also I really hate getting my hands dirty. Remember you have until a night and a day overlap, to bring your sister back."

"Bring her back now!" Elsa yelled and with all of her remaining energy she summoned a very massive ice shard out of the ballroom floor underneath the man, however he vanished in a puff of dark smoke just before it struck him.

Elsa was panting angrily and when she heard her sister groan, she looked at Kristoff who also gave her an anxious look just as the doors of the ballroom were finally forced open by the guards and the servants who took in the devastating scene around them. Before any of them could ask, Elsa ordered them to take Anna to her chambers.

Once in Anna's room, Kristoff kept vigil over Anna's still unconscious form as Elsa was dealing with the crowds of panicked people. Kristoff sighed as he heard the chiming of the clock, signaling that it was six in the morning. He could see the sun's rays peeking out over the horizon. Some servants came in asking if he wanted anything or how the princess was fairing. He would politely decline any snacks and beverages, and then give them an easy smile when they would question the princess's well-being. Getting up he looked out to be greeted to the beautiful sunrise and then he looked at his sleeping girlfriend. It had then suddenly occurred to him how still Anna was lying. She had not moved since they had essentially placed her in bed. Nor had she shown any signs of life since she had groaned and that unnerved him. Quite a few times when they would go out on dates to a nice serene lakeside or meadow, they would end up falling asleep and he would always wake up to her sporadic sharp movements in her sleep which would often result him being slapped in the face if she was lying on top of him. With this thought in mind, he went back over to her and leaned over and internally let out a sigh of relief as he felt her breath on his cheek. Pulling back he gently grabbed her hand and gave it a soft squeeze, "I love you Anna." He whispered and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. Then he caressed her forehead, it seemed that her fever broke, but that did not help that he knew something else was off about her. He then thought back to what that bastard assassin had done to her. Perhaps the curse backfired? He questioned internally.

As he was deeply lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice another chiming of the clock signaling that it was seven-thirty now in the morning. However what did pull him from his thoughts was, "Kristoff?" He heard her question weakly as he pulled back from her. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her eyes flutter open.

He sat down on the bed as she tried to sit up. Seeing what she was trying to do, he helped her sit up, "Hi there feisty pants." He greeted her softly and giving her a light smile.

She smiled weakly back at him, and somehow that did not sit right with him as she said, "Hey Mr. Iceman." Seeing how he was not giving her his usual smile anymore she asked, "You ok?"

"I should be asking you that." He said looking at her tired eyes, "Do you remember what happened?"

Anna frowned and before she could speak, Elsa walked into the room. Seeing her sister was sitting up, Elsa let out a small cry before flinging herself at her baby sister, "Oh Anna!"

"Elsa!" Anna gasped her sister tighter.

"Anna too tight!" Elsa gasped out and Anna released her.

"Sorry." Anna looked down at her sheets.

Elsa looked at her sister and then exchanged glances with Kristoff. They both then looked at Anna, "Hey its ok." Anna looked up at her sister's gentle ice blue eyes, "How do you feel? Do you want something to eat?"

"I feel sick to my stomach, so no thank you." Anna shuddered, just thinking about eating made her feel slightly sick, "And I do have a bit of a headache, but otherwise I think I am ok."

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Kristoff asked again.

Anna frowned again and nodded, "Yes." She looked at her sister, "Am I really cursed?"

Elsa looked at her sister sadly, "Possibly, in fact Kristoff?" Kristoff drew his attention off of Anna and looked at Elsa, "Would you please go to Pabbie and tell him what happened? Perhaps he can help us."

Kristoff looked at Anna again. Almost asking for her permission, "Go. I will be right here when you get back."

Kristoff sighed and kissed Anna in a deep and passionate kiss. While they had been dating for two years, out of respect for Elsa, they never really shown intimate types of personal displays of affection. Elsa covered her mouth and let out a cough and only then did they pull apart, "I will be back as soon as I can." He vowed.

Anna nodded, "Like I said I will be here. Be safe."

"You too." Kristoff said softly. Bowing to Elsa he darted out of the room.

Once he left Elsa looked back at her sister and saw Anna wince, "You sure you are ok?"

"Yea, just feel like my limbs are on fire." Anna said as she painfully sat up more.

Elsa nodded and went over to the bed and helped Anna sit up more, "Well I have to get back to work and look at some incident files thanks to that whack job and Hans."

"Do you really think he is alive?" Anna asked worried.

"I do not know, but I intend to find out. I am not about to let that man ruin our lives or hurt you ever again." Elsa vowed. Anna narrowed her eyes and Elsa swore she saw her sister's blue eyes turn a slight gold color, "Anna?"

Anna was in deep thought and a voice entered her mind, "_I will kill that bastard myself! He will not hurt Elsa or Kristoff!_" "Anna!"

"Huh what?" Anna asked as she shook her head trying to clear it of the menacing thoughts that clouded her mind.

"I was trying to get your attention. Should I get Doctor Shepard for you?"

"No. No I am fine. I was just thinking.

Elsa nodded slowly and saw that Anna's eyes were once again blue. Thinking it was just the trick of the light Elsa made a move toward the door, "I will be back later ok. If you are better did you want to go to the dining room for lunch or would you rather eat in here?"

"I do not know, why don't we just play it by ear?" Anna suggested.

"Ok playing it by ear it is." Elsa nodded in agreement. She gave her sister a smile, "By the way, why did you try and sacrifice yourself again for us?"

"Why do you think?" Anna asked also smiling.

"One of these days you are going to have to let us save you." Elsa sighed.

Anna smiled, "Well then the next time something happens feel free to save me." Elsa shook her head and left the room. Anna sighed and looked up at the ceiling and her eyes closed, then her mind drifted and once again she fell asleep.

By the time she opened her eyes again, she saw Elsa sitting in a chair reading a book, "Hi. Done with the paperwork?" Anna asked smiling.

"Yup all done sleepily head." Elsa stated smiling as she placed the book down and sat on her sister's bed. In fact she had long since been done with the paperwork and had spent most of her time doing her own research about transformations. Everything that she had read about was based on either myth or just plain fiction, so there was nothing about Anna's case that had either been documented or heard of.

"Oh, so time for lunch?" Anna asked no longer feeling sick to her stomach. In fact she was ravenous and now the thought of food was just the most wonderful thought of all.

Elsa laughed, "Actually it is supper time."

"Wow really?" Just then the clock struck six times signaling it to be six o'clock, "Well I guess that answers my question." The sisters laughed, "Oh hey is Kristoff back yet?" Anna asked sobering up.

Elsa frowned, "No not yet. But I am sure he is fine." She added seeing Anna's worried look outside. The sun sat just above the horizon, "Elsa what if-"

"No, you will be fine." Elsa stated firmly.

"But if I really am cursed, I will transform into some monster at night and it is almost dark." Anna said just as firmly and furiously, "He said that I will lose myself, my humanity, and my memories." Then her face softened and she looked at Elsa the same way Elsa had looked at her at the ice palace, "I do not want to hurt you."

Elsa sighed and grabbed Anna's hand and squeezed it, "You won't hurt me Anna."

"How do you know?"

"You love me and Kristoff." Elsa said simply, "Love is so much stronger than hate and fear. You taught me that. Now how about that dinner?"

Anna nodded and shakily got out of bed. She realized that she was still in her party dress, "I think I am actually going to change first."

Elsa nodded and motioned for Anna to go into her bathroom. As she watched Anna collect a more similar and casual dress, she couldn't help but notice a slight change in her sister's physical appearance, "Hey Anna before you go in there, can I see something quick?"

Anna turned and looked at her sister, "Uhm…sure?"

Elsa stood up and took off her ice heels and stepped closer to her sister. It was then that she noticed that Anna was just slightly taller than her and looking even more closely she noticed that Anna was also just very slightly more built up, "Uhm Elsa? You are kind of scaring me right now…" Anna said as she took a step back from her sister.

"Anna are you positive that you are ok?" Elsa asked hesitantly.

Anna snapped and Elsa flinched at the look in her sister's eyes, "I am fine ok! Just peachy perfect! Now can you please stop asking me stupid god damned questions and allow me to get changed so we can eat?! God Almighty!" Right at that moment Anna through the bathroom door open and slammed it shut so hard that it caused the stuff that was on her shelf to rattle. Elsa winced and then was instantly hurt. Never had Anna truly yelled at her so furiously…that included her desperate yell at the coronation party.

In less than a few minutes, Anna slowly opened the door looking a bit more refreshed and slightly embarrassed, "Elsa I am so sorry. I shouldn't have yelled…I just do not know what came over me."

Elsa bit her lip as the one thought that was the cause of all this dawned on her, "I think I might. Follow me." Elsa led Anna out of the room.

As Anna followed Elsa down the hallway she noticed that the palace was much quieter and there was barely anyone around, "Where is everyone?"

"I sent them home for the night. In fact I ordered that no one under any circumstances is allowed to be in the palace at night." Elsa explained, "Only Kai, Gerda, and the guards are the only ones here. Well and Kristoff when he gets back."

"So you sent everyone else home?" Anna asked solemnly, it was just like when they closed the gates all those years ago.

"Yes, I gave them a time frame of when they are allowed to begin working and when they are supposed to leave." Elsa looked at her sister, "Anna this is not your fault. They understand."

"What did you tell them?" Anna asked.

"Nothing about your possible problem, just that it was a curfew that I set for the city in response to that mystical assassin and Hans."

Anna nodded as they entered a small unused study, "Why are we here?"

"I wanted to show you this…" Elsa said gently as she gave Anna a book.

Anna looked at her sister and opened to the marked page…it was about transformations. Anna sat in the chair and glossed over the page. Reading about people having the free ability to transform into certain creatures was not all that comforting, also how did Elsa think that this would help her? "Ok I do not understand." She deadpanned, "How is this supposed to help me?"

Elsa sighed, "It shows that supposedly people have this ability."

"I can see that," Anna said relooking at the pages, "but this sounds…well…mythical and fictional. Not only that this makes it sound like a voluntary thing."

"Well at least it kind of explains how the personality of whatever creature people transform into becomes a part of that person. So that little emotional defensive back there, was like a part of the wolf."

"So am I or am I not cursed?" Anna asked.

"We are going to have wait to see what Pabbie says…but Anna even if you are, I will not allow you to hide yourself away." Elsa said firmly.

Anna however was not really pay attention, her thoughts drifted to the mystic's words, "_Your identity will be lost and you will be nothing but an animalistic monster to not only yourself, but to them as well_." Anna shivered.

Elsa noticed the shiver and decided that enough was enough for the night, "Come on let's get something to eat."

Anna nodded numbly and they made a move to leave the study, however Anna stopped and looked slowly back to the window. As Elsa silently watched her sister, her gaze too followed her sister's, the final rays of the sun set behind the horizon. She could feel the shift in the atmosphere around the small study, like reaching for something barely beyond their reach. Just one look told her that Anna knew it too. Just then the twenty-year old started to tremble. Elsa gasped as she saw her sister's blue eyes change to bright yellow eyes, "Anna?" Elsa asked as she saw her sister trembling even more.

"El-Ah!" Anna let out a scream as she immediately gripped her stomach and sank to her knees.

"Anna!" Elsa called out in alarm as she ran over to her fallen sister.

Another spasm of pain hit Anna and sent her curling into herself even tighter into a ball. She was vaguely aware of Elsa calling her name, but she could not respond as the pain had stolen her breath. Elsa heard Anna breathing heavily, and that was when she noticed that Anna had begun sweating profusely. Anna cried out again as every nerve ending burned. She managed to pull away from Elsa and crawled away from her sister. She had just managed to send Elsa a look that read 'stay away', and Elsa obeyed, only because she was too shocked to move. Unable to move any further, Anna laid down on the floor, just as the convulsions in her body began, causing her clothes to be ripped and torn as the changes started to take place.

The pressure in her spine as it elongated became unbearable, forcing another cry from Anna. Her ribcage became deeper and larger. Shoulders and hips curved to accommodate the new spine, shoving muscles and ligaments aside, eliciting screams almost constantly now from the woman. Her leg bones grew and thickened. Arm bones did the same, curving inward toward her chest. Hands and feet disappeared as paws formed. More pressure in her skull marked the beginning of its conversion from human to wolf. Teeth grew and sharpened. Muscles and ligaments reformed to fit the new bones. Amber fur sprouted over every inch of her. One final tortured yell, a strangling sound then a loud canine yelp echoed through the study.

Elsa was frozen in place as the form of her human sister was no longer there. Swallowing she stood up and took one step to the whining creature, "Anna?" The wolf was panting and made a move to stand, when it did manage its goal the whining stopped and bright fierce yellow eyes landed on ice blue ones, "Anna?" Elsa questioned again hoping for any sign of recognition. She took in the wolf's appearance and it dawned on her that this was no ordinary transformation that she had researched in the books. She read that there were people with special talents in transforming themselves into animals, but Anna's wolf form was massive! If Kristoff had been standing next to her, she would have come up to his stomach.

The wolf pulled its lips back and snarled. Elsa swallowed harder as she saw the deep jaws that bore massive teeth, and what really was starting to frighten her was that the wolf's carnassials were so enlarged that she knew what these particular teeth were for…their main purpose was for cutting flesh; and at the rate this standoff was going, Elsa knew if she could not reach her sister, it was her flesh that was going to be cut apart.

The wolf bowed her head and pulled her ears back. Hackles raised she took a predatory step to the Queen, "Anna please it's me. Elsie." Elsa spoke softly as the wolf started to advance on the Queen. Elsa backed away slowly, she had hoped that by referring to her childhood nickname would have gave the wolf, no her sister, some sort of recognition, "Please wake up…come back to me Anna. This is not you." The wolf stopped its advance and suddenly let out an ear piercing howl, before lunging at the Snow Queen.

* * *

**A/N: **

For those of you who have read or watched Game of Thrones, I based Anna's wolf form off of the dire wolf. By the way yes these creatures were actually real at one point. The dire wolf (_Canis dirus_) is an extinct wolf that lived during the Pleistocene. It was considered a successful hunter and was supposedly larger than the grey wolf. There is also mention on how this species has differentiated in size depending on where it was located. The historic range of this wolf shows that North America was the main range and it dispersed into Mexico and is a rarity in South America based on the most sites that held fossilized remains.

I can go into all types of detail considering I wrote a research paper on this topic (cuz wolves are my ultimate favorite animal and I was obsessed with Game of Thrones). If any of you want more information I will be more than happy to give it.


	5. Beast Unleashed

Any similarities to any other story involving Anna turning into a wolf or anything like that is totally UNINTENTIONAL. I DO NOT OWE ANYTING! Other than the idea for this story. Characters and anything else of the sort is NOT mine!

Now just for a bit of a review from the author note in the previous chapter:

For those of you who have read or watched Game of Thrones, I based Anna's wolf form off of the dire wolf. By the way yes these creatures were actually real at one point. The dire wolf (_Canis dirus_) is an extinct wolf that lived during the Pleistocene. It was considered a successful hunter and was supposedly larger than the grey wolf. There is also mention on how this species has differentiated in size depending on where it was located. The historic range of this wolf shows that North America was the main range and it dispersed into Mexico and is a rarity in South America based on the most sites that held fossilized remains.

I can go into all types of detail considering I wrote a research paper on this topic (cuz wolves are my ultimate favorite animal and I was obsessed with Game of Thrones). If any of you want more information I will be more than happy to give it.

**Cursed **

**Chapter Four: The Beast Unleashed**

**Slightly Earlier-**

"I am sorry, but I am afraid it is real." The old wise troll said to Kristoff.

Kristoff had made it to the trolls by late in the afternoon. He told everything to Pabbie as to what occurred at the ball the previous night. He even shared his memories, and did not like the facial expression on his stone face, "So how do we save her?" Kristoff asked.

"I am afraid that unless Anna is here there is nothing more I can do. From what you described and what I saw this is very dark magic. Dark magic that I truly have not experienced before…"

"I am sensing a 'but' in that sentence."

Pabbie nodded grimly, "Yes you sense correctly. As I said, I have not experienced this dark magic before, but even if I had I would not be able to actually break Princess Anna's curse."

Kristoff felt his stomach drop and a feeling of hopelessness overcame him, "So then why do you need Anna?"

"Because I still may be able to help. Bring her and Queen Elsa to me as soon as you can." Pabbie stated, then he looked up at the sky. The sun was about to set, "You may want to get back to the palace as quickly as you can."

"Why?" Kristoff answered his own question as he too looked up at the sky; there was an echo in his mind: _By night one way, by day another_, "Oh shit!" He yelled and without any other words he ran to Sven, "Go Sven! GO!" The trolls watched as Kristoff took off toward the palace.

**In the meantime back at the palace**-

Elsa's powers had activated automatically sending a large ice shield up just as the wolf lunged. The sound of a mighty crack radiates in the study as the wolf's head collides with the shield. Elsa gasps as she looks at her sister. Seeing that the wolf is only slightly dazed, Elsa starts to plead once more, "Anna please…I do not want to hurt you like you really do not want to hurt me." Elsa said gently as she tried to step closer to the wolf and lowed her hands, "Let me help you." She adds softly.

The wolf regains its balance and shakes its head. Elsa watches on as the wolf comes back to its senses. The Queen is tense, as the amber wolf looks at her. Elsa tries to look deeply into the piercing yellow eyes, and for a moment in those eyes there is a flicker of recognition. Slowly the yellow eyes give way to gentle blue, and it is for this reason that Elsa has a slight edge of hope because she thinks that she has her sister. The wolf whines softly and wags her tail, "Oh Anna thank gods." Elsa breaths out and she holds her hand out as if to pet the massive creature before her.

However that changes in an instant, when Elsa took one step forward towards the massive wolf. Suddenly all recognition was gone just as fast as it came. Blue eyes were gone and in their place were two angry, feral yellow eyes once more. Anna bows her head and once again pulls her lips back and lets out a furious snarl, "Anna listen to me!" Elsa pleads as she starts backing away slowly, trying to reduce the threat that she knows Anna's internal beast sees her as. "You can't let the beast win Anna!" Even as Elsa pleads she can see it is a lost cause.

With a sudden growl Anna lunged at Elsa who just managed to dodge out of the way, "Anna please, it's me Elsa…your sister."

Growling again Anna charged at Elsa once more. Elsa once again through herself to the side falling to the floor. Anna, who didn't break her stride, rammed herself against the door, breaking it off its hinges, not even phased by the impact, she howled in anger, then sprinted off, "No, no, no!" Elsa begged as she too took off in the direction of the howling.

Running through the corridors, Elsa hoped that she wasn't too late, but she was also thankful that she had let most of the staff go home earlier in the day. At that moment, she recalled the assassin's words, "_She will be your assassin_." Oh Anna, Elsa thought, I know you are in there somewhere. Keeping that shred of hope with her, Elsa ran faster leaving an icy trail in her wake.

Kristoff and Sven just burst through the gates as a shrill scream of pure terror echoed from the stone walls of the castle. Sven looked at his friend, "Go Sven!" Sven nodded and he ran towards the doors. Sven reared up and slammed against the door, causing it to burst open off its hinges. They sprinted into the castle, with his only thought praying that Anna was ok. A heart wrenching howl echoed from the inside, causing Sven to stop once they reached the second landing. Sven looked at his friend and Kristoff could see the small fear in his eyes. Kristoff got off of Sven's back, "Go. I do not know what is going to happen, but its ok. I will be ok. Go." Sven nodded and took off toward the stables. Kristoff watched his friend go and he sprinted towards the howling creature.

The wolf kept running. A sense of hunger and a thirst for blood pulsed through her veins. The beast knew what its mission was. That woman in the study, she was supposed to be her prey. She was the one that was supposed to be her kill, her and then a man too. However the feral part was being torn by a more rational and human side. One filled with emotion and memories. In other words the wolf's mind was clouded and muddled; thoughts came sporadically and without focus. She had to kill, but she did not want to kill. She saw the platinum blonde as an enemy, but she saw her as a friend…family. Then the man face's came into her mind, feelings of love and devotion came forward. However that was also pushed down as a deeper feeling of hate and wildness burst through the dam.

Howling in frustration, she pushed herself to go faster. Any chance of an escape. She did not want to hurt the woman or the man, but she felt like she almost had no choice. However the more she thought the more the primal and feral side began to grow within her, suffocating her human soul. The invisible force tightened its grip, causing her to panic and sink deeper into its' clutches. Gripping desperately onto the last shred of herself, Anna felt an invisible force push her down further, causing her soul to be sealed as another more feral darkness pushed its way through her mind.

The feral beast now had full control. The mind cleared itself as the sense of pure instinct drove the wolf forward. The body became calm which allowed its sense to become sharpened, the movements became lethal, and the urge to kill became stronger. The beast had trapped the human side of its host, with no chance of escape. Sensing something pursuing her, she suddenly stopped just as she had turned the corner. It was the platinum blonde haired woman…the one with the powers over ice and snow, "Anna please…" Anna? The beast thought. There is no Anna here…not anymore. To show this woman proof that her precious 'Anna' is gone, it started growling and baring her teeth.

"I am not going to fight you," Elsa said trying her best to remain calm and collected, to show the beast proof she lowered her hands…hoping that whatever happened next, her powers did not react by themselves.

The creature stopped growling for a brief moment and was confused for a moment. Something was surfacing on the inside of the creature. The beast knew what she had to do: she had to kill this woman in front of her…that is why she was created inside this particular host…she had expected there to be a fight…what kind of trick was this woman pulling?

"**This is not a trick**." A human like voice told the feral monster, "**She is my sister…she can help us**."

"_Quiet human_! _I am in control and this woman has to die_!" The beast snarled internally and immediately buried the human soul once more.

However even as the beast looked into the sad and loving eyes of the woman before her. Never before had it seen such a look, and it sure had seen a lot of looks: fear, anger, desperation…but never sad and most of all love. The wolf shook her head as a sudden twinge of pity for the prey came to her. Whether it was in amusement or some human emotion broke through, it did not care. In that moment it was clear for the beast that if this woman was not going to fight back, then she would die. With this thought in mind, the wolf bowed its' head and let out a low snarl.

"Anna please I know you are in there," Elsa sang gently, "if love can thaw, it can heal too, and I love you so very much. Let my love save you, just like your love saved me…" Elsa held the note out and smiled at the creature before her, "Do you wanna build a snowman? We can make an awesome snowman…"

The beast stopped growling for a moment and was suddenly overcome with a very warm feeling, "_What is this trick_? _What does she think she is doing_?"

Kristoff ran as fast as his legs would allow as his heart was pounding against his chest with panic. He had not felt like this since he was racing to the fjord to save Anna. He knew that if anything happened to Anna he would never forgive himself. Clenching his fists, Kristoff forced himself to clear his mind. If he was going to attempt to reach Anna, he had to be in control of himself first.

Rounding the corner Kristoff suddenly came to a stop at the scene before him and his blood ran cold. Standing in the courtroom was the largest wolf he had ever seen. If he were standing next to it, it would have come up to his stomach easily. Its' eyes, fierce with rage, were focused on the woman, but she was not any ordinary woman…this was the Queen. He wanted to tell her to run, to do anything but stand there singing to the wolf, "Anna-" Wait what?! Kristoff thought to himself as suddenly the wolf faltered in its stance and shook its head, "we need you. I need you please. I am not going to fight you. If you want to kill me, then kill me. However I know you…you are not a monster."

_That is what you think_, the beast thought.

"**No**! **Please don't**!" the human pleaded.

"_Silence_! _I am in control now_! _And she is going to die_!" Kristoff watched almost in slow motion as the wolf charged and Elsa just stood there accepting her fate.

Without thinking, Kristoff was running at the wolf, his hunting knife in hand. In one swift movement and acting on self-preservation skills he threw his knife as hard as he could. The blade soared in slow motion across the air. Out of the corner of her eye, Elsa saw the knife sailing across the room as she heard Kristoff's yell and there was nothing that she could do, because it was already too late.

The beast knew it was coming. It was not stupid and did not have the weak senses a human would have. Acting on pure animal instinct, it twisted in midair causing the weapon to graze the shoulder. Feeling the sting of the cut, the wolf howled in rage. Altering the course of action, it turned to face the attacker…it was the large male, "**No**, **Kristoff**…" The human voice again broke out, however it was weaker than it previously was. This caused love and fear to enter the beast's mind. However the beast managed to beat the voice down. It recognized that this was the man that it was supposed to kill. And kill it would, he attacked first, he drew first blood in its mind, so therefore he must pay.

Kristoff was now weaponless as the wolf bared its teeth at him. He was shocked to see how fast such a massive creature could move. He had missed…but now he was going to pay the consequences as the wolf drew its focus on to him. He swiftly looked around, and grabbed one of the torches from the wall ready to defend himself and Elsa. Elsa saw this and started to panic, "Kristoff!" Elsa called, "No! It's Anna!"

Kristoff did not dare take his eyes off the wolf's yellow eyes. He still could not believe that this creature was their…his…Anna, "What choice do we have? Let her kill us?!"

"She is not going to kill us! I believe in her that she can fight this!" Elsa called back.

This belief was short lived as the wolf unexpectedly lunged at the ice harvester. Elsa acted on instinct and created on ice wall. The wolf, instead of crashing into the wall, changed course towards the Snow Queen, who was not quick enough to activate her powers. With a mighty sweep of her paw, she just managed to graze Elsa in the chest, before Kristoff tackled her to the ground, causing her to take a swipe at his face, which she managed to get in contact with his face.

Elsa managed to quickly recover and once again released her powers on her sister and a full blast of snow and wind hit the wolf, causing it to hit the wall. Kristoff managed to quickly get off the floor and stood behind Elsa. The wolf managed to shakily get to its feet and recover. A blind raged soon followed, "_THEY ARE SO DEAD_!"

"**No please**!" The human pleaded.

However the voice was silenced as a feral howl rang through the courtroom as it started to make the final charge at the man and woman in front of it. Elsa was more prepared as she made a mental apology to her sister and when she saw the wolf leap, she summoned a heavy thick and larger wall of ice. The wolf hit it with a sickening crack and acting more quickly, Elsa created a cage with very large thick bars. The beast was furious! How dare these humans try and detain her! When she got out of here, she would make them pay! She was going to give them a merciful death, but now she was going to tear them bit by bit! The wolf bit down on the bars, but even the large jaws that were meant to crush bone could not break them…the wolf was trapped. Elsa panted hard as she looked at Kristoff who was whipping blood off his face, "Are you ok?"

"Yea, she just grazed me. How about you?" He motioned to her chest.

Elsa looked into the mirror that somehow remained on the wall, "I am pissed that she ruined my favorite dress, but it looks like just a graze too."

They were silent, the only thing that could be heard was Anna's howls of fury and rage, "Are you sure that these will hold?" Kristoff asked slightly worried. He looked at Elsa and knew that she could not handle another attack. However if he was being honest, neither could he.

"Yes, I am sure. She cannot even break the bars with her jaws…Kristoff she is not a normal wolf…" Elsa said, "What did that bastard do to her?"

Kristoff shook his head as the wolf was slowly losing some steam. Looking out at one of the windows he saw it was still dark, and a nearby clock chimed midnight. Sighing and scratching the back of his neck he asked, "So how do we get her back? I mean have you tried to reach her?" Kristoff asked looking at the seemingly calm, yet still lethal animal in the cage.

Elsa sighed and leaned against the wall and slid down it as she felt the last of the adrenaline leaving her body. She was aware of the wolf watching their movements as Kristoff followed suit, "I tried. I thought I gotten through to her once before, but it did not work."

"Maybe you can try harder?" He suggested.

"Try harder?! Kristoff I just caged my own sister! I have tried! I do not know what else to do!" Elsa yelled as she started to cry as she drew her knees up and hid her face.

He suddenly felt incredibly guilty and hesitantly rubbed her back, "Hey it is ok…maybe if I try think that will work?"

Elsa whipped her eyes and looked at the wolf. Anna was still crouched with her ears pinned back, her eyes flaring in anger. "What other choice do we have?" She asked brokenhearted.

Taking a deep breath, Kristoff got up and knelt before the wolf. He jumped back and landed on his back side when Anna tried to take another swipe at him from inside the cage. Elsa was by his side in an instant, ready to create another shield if need be. However she also gave Kristoff a fleeting glance and he nodded. Re-steeling his nerves he took another breath and spoke softly, "Anna? I don't know if you can hear me, but it's Kristoff. I know you are in there and we need you to come back to us."

The creature felt a stir of warm emotions from its heart and tried to immediately crush it, "_Pathetic human_. _They think they can save you_. _Why do they keep trying_, _you are too weak to fight me_."

"**Do not underestimate me**!" Anna's voice yelled at the monster inside her, calm on Kristoff and Elsa keep talking please, she begged furiously.

"_You are weak_! _Once I am out of here I will kill them and it will all be on you_!" The beast yelled back, but it could feel some of its power weakening as the human started to take charge once more.

Elsa gasped silently as she watched the wolf, who was calming down some. It still had its lowered and ear pulled back, but it was no longer snarling. She nodded to Kristoff trying to encourage him some more, "It's working…" She breathed out.

Swallowing he continued speaking, "I believe you are still in there somewhere. I know you can do it. I know that when you put your mind to something, nothing stops you. Hell you trekked miles up a mountain to find your sister and help her unfreeze the entire fjord!" He allowed himself to laugh a bit as he recalled her attempt to rock climb.

Elsa watched as the wolf relaxed her stance and sat down. The position the wolf gave was no longer in attack mode as she looked at Kristoff. She was actually listening and concentrating on his words! She looked at the wolf's eyes and saw the fierce feral yellow dim and change back to blue, "Keep going!" Elsa stated her voice still soft, not wanting to scare Anna back to her feral instincts.

Feeling brave now as he too started to see the changes in demeanor, Kristoff approached closer to the cage and griped the bars said, "You have to come back to us ok? There are people here who love you and need you…Elsa's here, I'm here, Sven, and Olaf! We all need you…this is not who you are…" Taking a deeper breath he said, "You are not a monster. Remember who you are!"

At those words, something buried stirred within the beast. It felt itself being pushed back as a warm feeling broke through the dam it had created. It felt itself becoming weaker as the warm feeling suddenly became hot and unbearable. The beast was forced to relinquish its' hold on Anna's mind, "**Back off**! **You do not control me anymore**!" Anna yelled at the creature.

"_You think you are strong_, _you are weak_! _You may have won this round human, but rest assured this is far from the end_." And with that, slowly the beast allowed itself to be locked away…for now.

Kristoff and Elsa watched as the wolf suddenly got up and shook its head. They held their breath when it looked back at them, and when they looked into its eyes, there was no yellow in sight. Instead there was blue and the wolf let out a happy yelp, and approached the cage wagging its tail and tried to lick their faces.

Laughing Elsa allowed the cage to melt, only to be tackled by the wolf, "Hey! Stop! Anna!" Anna stopped and then turned her focus on to Kristoff who reacted the same way, "Hey! Yuck! You know that will not come out of my clothes now!"

The wolf started to chase her tail happily, but then suddenly stopped and looked at the gleeful faces of her boyfriend and sister. It was then that she noticed the large scratch on Elsa's chest and Kristoff's cheek. She then started whining sadly and slowly backed away from them, "Anna what-" Elsa started to ask as she and Kristoff got up, but she continued to back away still whining and then suddenly she turned around and darted away from them.

I hurt them, I hurt them! Oh no! I am a monster! Anna's raging thoughts attacked her. Something stirred slightly within her. She knew it was the internal beast celebrating, but she ignored it and continued running.

Without speaking the two of them chased after her and followed the sound of mournful howling, "Anna!" They yelled.

"Oh great…not again." Elsa groaned as they approached an intersection in the hallways. The mournful howling echoed in the corridors that Elsa could not pin-point the source.

"Hold on." Kristoff said holding up his hand. Listening closely he knew where she was, "This way!"

"How do you know?" Elsa asked as she followed the ice harvester.

"Trust me. Living in the woods makes you aware of all your surroundings." Kristoff said.

Not bothering to question him, they followed the howling to the bedrooms and sure enough they found Anna pacing the floor rather violently in her room and letting out whines, "Anna?" Elsa called softly as they entered the room. Kristoff closed the door behind them so Anna would not try and bolt away again, "It's ok. Just relax." Elsa continued softly as she lowered herself to the floor on her knees.

Anna backed away from her sister with her head bowed. She let out another pitiful whine, "I do not understand; why is she upset? She did nothing wrong." Kristoff asked as he joined Elsa on the floor.

"I do not know." Elsa said as she watched Anna's agitated behavior.

Anna let out a small growl, which got their attention. Elsa continued to watch as Anna kept jerking her head at something, "Anna I am sorry but I do not understand. We are not mad, honestly." Anna shook her head and this time tried to use her paw, "I am still not getting it."

Huffing in annoyance, Anna went to her vanity and placed her front paws on the chair. Internally thanking herself for not putting the hand mirror in the drawer, she gently grabbed it in her mouth and slowly brought it over to Elsa then backed away in submissive like behavior.

Elsa looked at her sister and picked up the mirror, it was then that she understood, "Oh the scratch." She handed the mirror to Kristoff who also looked at his.

Anna let out a whine and slid on to her stomach and tried to bury her face in her paws, "Anna come here." Kristoff said softly.

Anna did not listen, "Please Anna," Anna peaked out this time at the sound of her sister's voice, "come."

Anna slinked forward and placed her head in Elsa's lap giving her sister pitiful eyes. Elsa allowed her hand to run through Anna's soft amber fur. Kristoff followed suit. In fact in this moment, no more words were required and the trio took comfort in the silence between them. They stayed that way until they all fell asleep as the nights' events finally came down on them.

It felt like only minutes had passed, however it was more like hours when Elsa and Kristoff awoke to heavy panting and whining. Suddenly alert they jumped to their feet only to discover Anna pacing violently in the room. Anna had awoken just before sunrise to the same intense tingling she felt before the change. She stumbled as the pain hit, causing an agony-filled yelp to escape her mouth. Kristoff wanted to go to her, but Elsa who had seen the transformation, held him back. He give her a look and was about to speak, but she shook her head, "I know this is hard, but this is the change. Look." She pointed outside, it was sunrise.

Kristoff still did not understand as Anna laid down to wait and it didn't take long. First, the burning of her nerve endings came. Then the incredible pressure in her spine as it returned to normal, eliciting more yelps of pain. Shoulders and hips became human followed quickly by her arms and legs, hands and feet reappearing. Teeth shrank and pressure in her skull as it changed back threatened to burst her head apart. All during the change, canine cries accompanied the morphing form until the very last. As her skull became human, Anna's howl turned to a human's tortured scream.

Finally, it was over and Anna lay shivering, temporarily immobile, on the floor. Kristoff turned around as he realized that Anna was not wearing anything, as Elsa ran forward to place a blanket over her sister. Turning around slowly, Kristoff looked at the exhausted form of his girlfriend. Going over to the bed he pulled a pillow off and Elsa gently lifted her sister's head and allowed him to place a pillow underneath, "Elsa? Kristoff?" Anna called weakly to look at them.

"Shush," Elsa said as she ran her fingers through her hair, "its ok. We are ok."

"I am so sorry," Anna cried weakly, "I didn't mean-"

"Hey it is ok." Kristoff spoke now as he took her hand in his and made small circles on the top of her hand, "We are fine. Now just rest up, we will still be here."

Anna cried a bit more and snuggled closer to Elsa and finally sleep came to her once more. Elsa and Kristoff looked at one another. Kristoff could see the rather large red scratch across her chest and Elsa could see a similar red scratch on his cheek. One thing was certain to them, when Anna saw these marks again, things were going to go from bad to worse.


	6. Doomed to Repeat

**Cursed **

**Chapter Five: Doomed to Repeat**

Hans was furious! Actually furious was the wrong word. He was on a warpath! "WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU CURSE HER?! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" He yelled his voice echoing off the cave walls.

The man sitting by the crystal ball did not look phased as the prince yelled. In fact he was rather enjoying himself, "I was thinking I was helping you."

"HOW?! JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ON THAT MADE YOU COME TO THAT CONCLUSION?!"

"You want them to suffer right?" A confirmed nod, "Well this is how they will suffer the best. The princess will eventually end up killing the Queen and the Harvester and in turn the guilt and pain will slowly eat the princess alive to the point that she will die because it will consume her soul and eventually her heart."

Hans pondered over the words and he could swear that the man was smirking underneath that cloak, "I guess that is true…but now what happens when I try and go get the princess and she is that monstrous creature?"

"You did not listen to me did you? I said that by night she is a monster, by day she is a human." The man said slowly hoping that the stupid young man would understand, "You can get her while she is human."

Hans nodded slowly and began to smile, he turned away and began to plot part two. However the man waved his hand and looked into the crystal ball. He could make out the Queen and the Harvester looking a bit worse for wear. He could see the Princess's guilty eyes looking at them as they were riding in the sleigh. Over all he was proud, sure the Queen and the Harvester were still alive, but not a bad job for the first night. He sat back against the wall and watched what their next move was. Soon, the man thought as the crystal ball focused on the Princess, the prophecy will come to mind.

Anna sighed as they approached the open area. Elsa was holding her hand to try and steady her already frayed nerves, but she could still feel the beast hibernating inside of her. Kristoff had awoken them a few hours ago saying that Pabbie could possibly help, but that they had to leave right away so they could return to the castle by dark. Olaf was not with them, as he promised to play with the kids, which in Kristoff and Elsa's opinion was for the best. Anna looked up at the sky, the sun was already half way up to its highest point.

"We are here." Kristoff said softly so not to startle Anna.

"Great…whoopee doo." Anna said sarcastically.

Elsa and Kristoff exchanged a look, "Go, tell them we are here and Anna and I will be there shortly." Elsa whispered to Kristoff.

Before Kristoff could respond Anna said, "I can hear you know. I am not deaf…"

Kristoff and Elsa were stunned as Kristoff walked over to his family. Elsa sighed and approached Anna, "Anna please talk to me."

"About what?" Elsa winced at her sister's tone, "Talk about what exactly? How I almost killed you and Kristoff last night? How I gave the both of you scars?"

Elsa realized that this was the problem immediately, "Anna it is ok. We are fine. The scratches will go away in a few days."

"Ok but how about tonight when I try and kill you both again? What if tonight you cannot reach me? Then what?" Anna demanded looking at her sister in the eye.

Elsa stared into her little sister's pain filled eyes. These were the eyes that her happy sister should not have. These were the eyes that Elsa had to see in her own reflection for years after the incident with Anna in the ballroom, "Anna please I know how you feel." Elsa spoke gently, "I felt the same way after your accident…but Pabbie can help you. I know he can." Anna was silent and she snuck a look at the trolls that were waiting for them. Elsa held out her hand; "I will not let you suffer like I suffered Anna. Please, let us help you." Anna sighed and took her sister's hand and they walked over to them…all the while she felt the beast stir within and did not like what it was feeling.

Pabbie sighed as Anna knelt down before him and he placed his hand on her forehead. He could feel the darkness within her and it was indeed something that he never felt before, "This is ancient magic…ancient dark magic." He muttered as he pulled away from her. He took both her hands instead and said, "Kristoff told you that I cannot break your curse right?"

Anna nodded and looked over her shoulder at her boyfriend and sister. Both were looking nervous, "Yes he did tell me on the way here. However he also mentioned that you could help."

"Yes I can, there are two options that I can do." Pabbie said solemnly, "The first option is I can create an amulet."

"Amulet?" Elsa asked as she stepped forward and placed a hand on Anna's shoulder.

"How can that help?" Kristoff asked as he too stepped forward.

Pabbie sighed, "Love is a powerful thing. Anna's love for you goes deeper than any curse; that much I can sense. However this darkness in particular that is currently in her heart is overpowering that love and clouding it. Am I right Anna?" Elsa and Kristoff both look at the princess who nods, "Well if I use a strand of your sister's hair, Kristoff's, and mix it with yours; I could create the love and that way it can hopefully outshine the darkness so to speak."

Anna mulled the words over, "So it would help suppress the beast?"

"Yes, however there are well…complications. You would have to wear the amulet every day; and if you do take it off the beast will unleash itself tenfold." Seeing their perplexed looks, Pabbie elaborates, "Think about a bottle of champagne and what happens after you shake it and it is opened." A look of understanding passes across their faces and they cringe.

"So what is option two?" Elsa asks as she squeezes Anna's now really tense shoulder.

Pabbie again sighs, "The second option is a bit more…dangerous. I can still suppress the beast's negative energy by using an ancient technique called Eight Sign Seal." He held up his hand to silence the trio who was about to interrupt him, "Essentially what I would do is seal the already negative energy that is inside of you in a central location…however with this there is an outcome that the seal could break and again go back to my champagne example."

There was silence as they looked at each other. Kristoff was the one who spoke up this time, "So she takes the amulet and if she loses it she is screwed…go for the seal and she is screwed? Is that the options?"

Pabbie nodded grimly, "I am afraid so."

"Can I have both?" Anna whispered softly as she grabbed Elsa's hand that had come to have a death grip on her shoulder.

"I am sorry, but my magic is very limited. The best I can offer you is either the seal or the amulet, and I could do some research for the extent of the curse."

Anna closed her eyes, "**So this is your solution? Using a boulder to solve your problems. Face it princess you will not win this.**"

"_Shut up!_" Anna thought back as she fought to bury the monster, "_This is my body and right now the sun is up and this is my time! Mine!_"

"Anna?" Elsa knelt down and looked at her sister with worry.

Anna opened her eyes and Elsa saw a brief glimpse of yellow, before switching back to blue, "The amulet. I want the amulet."

Pabbie was watching the princess closely and nodded slowly, "Alright then. Elsa and Kristoff? I need a strand of your hair." Elsa and Kristoff nodded and plucked a strand hair from their heads, "Anna I need yours as well. In fact come with me. You two need to stay here." He added looking at the Queen and Kristoff.

They nodded as Anna followed Pabbie over to a more secluded spot, "Anna listen to me. This thing, this curse…it does not have to be a curse." He whispered.

"What?" Anna asked shocked.

"Again I do not have much experience with this, but there is a possibility that you will never have this curse broken." Pabbie said.

"So I will be stuck like this? For the rest of my life?" Anna asked astounded in a low voice, thanking that she had her back to Elsa and Kristoff and that they were far enough away that they couldn't exactly see them.

Pabbie nodded, "Yes, but like I said it does not have to be a curse." He motioned to the little pool of water. Dipping his finger in it, Anna watched as an image of her sister appeared, "I had once told your sister that her powers would only grow," Anna watched as the image of her sister preformed the beautiful magic, "There is beauty in it…but also great danger." Anna watched as Elsa had struck her head in the ballroom that night, and then she watched again as Elsa had struck her heart in the ice palace, "I had told her that she had to learn to control it, otherwise fear would be her undoing." The image disappeared in a flash of red.

Anna shook her head as the beast within her laughed, "So what does that have to do with me?"

Pabbie smiled gently as he again dipped his finger in the water and Anna saw her image appear, "The man said that you were cursed. To be one way by day and another way by night." Anna watched as she transformed from human to the monstrous wolf, "He also said that this process would cause you to lose yourself and slowly as each transformation comes, you would become more animalistic in nature." Anna watched as the wolf was snarling furiously at her and then she saw Elsa and Kristoff's image appear and the wolf attacked them.

"Why are you showing me this?!" Anna demanded harshly, "I know what happens. I remembered what almost happened last night!"

Pabbie held up his hand and motioned to the pool, "When a night and a day overlap, will be the only time to take this curse back." The voice of the man came from the pool. The image of the wolf shifted back to human.

"So this is how I can get rid of it? Night and day overlap? I do not even know when that will occur!" Anna said throwing her hands in the air.

Pabbie reached into the water and pulled out a rock. He enclosed the rock along with the hairs in his hand and muttered something. His hands started to glow and then it dimmed, when he opened them the rock was a beautiful blood red crystal with a leather bound chain, "Here." Anna leaned forward and he tied the amulet around her neck, "I will do all I can. I am just saying you think about what I told you. If fear would have been Elsa's undoing, what would be yours? You could treat this like a curse, or you can treat it as a gift."

Anna looked at him and stood up, "How? How can something that nearly killed my boyfriend and sister a gift?"

Pabbie waved his arms for Anna to kneel back down, leaning in closely he says, "All magic has to be fed by some source. So this curse has to be fed by something already within you." He pulled away from her and she looked back at him as Elsa and Kristoff all said their goodbyes.

As they entered the sleigh they headed back for town, "You ok Anna?" Elsa asked.

"I do not know." Anna responded as she fingered the amulet, "I do not know." Kristoff and Elsa just looked at her and then focused as Arendelle came back into view.

Later on when they arrived the sun was high in the sky as the clocks chimed twelve in the afternoon. After having lunch Elsa went to attend a few meetings, Kristoff went to join up with a few ice harvesters after Anna had insisted on him going, and Anna retreated into her study…which is where she was currently having a mild panic attack. Pabbie's words had just hit home for her and the beast was enjoying every minute of it. Quickly she had summoned a few of the remaining servants: One servant was to fetch Kai, and the other was to deliver the hand written message for the assistant archivist.

What was that saying? Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it? Yes that is the quote. It was simple, yet powerful. Powerful enough that Anna had to forcefully ignore the agonizing feeling in the pit of her stomach as to what she was about to do, "**You really think this will help**? **You are foolish**, **a foolish little girl**. **First you go see the head boulder moron who gives you a rock for protection**, **and now you resort to this**?"

"_Please shut up_," Anna begged, "_please…just shut up!_"

"**You are mine**, **no matter what you do**, **no matter what they say**, **no matter who you are with**. **Your soul**, **your heart**, **your mind…it belongs to me**." The beast goes silent for now as it retreats far into her mind.

She started to pace her study with vengeance as she played with the amulet around her neck. On her desk was a worn black leather bond book that she had taken from Elsa's study right after she left to go to her meeting with the guards about the progress of finding Hans and the cloaked assassin. Hearing the knock on the door she gave the call for the person to enter, "Your highness?" She looked up to see Kai in the room.

"Kai, just the person I wanted to see." Anna said pleasantly and felt slightly relieved.

Kai nodded and closed the door softly, "You had requested my services." He looked at the princess and did not care for what he was seeing. Of course being the closest to the family, he and Gerda both knew what was going on and about the princess's curse. However he could see the changes in her besides looking taller and slightly more muscular.

She looked older…about ten years older. Of course he knew that both girls had to grow up fast, he even had to remind Elsa about how far to push herself and she was queen! She never seemed to have aged this much when she officially took over the throne, Anna however really had aged it seemed. Her eyes had dark circles underneath them and she always looked like she was battling some inner struggle.

"Yes I did request your services. Sit." Anna said motioning to the chair opposite of hers as she took a seat behind her desk. Kai nodded and sat down, "How long have you worked for my family?"

Kai looked perplexed as he looked at the princess, "Since your father was a boy your highness."

Anna nodded and leaned back in her chair, "How well would you say you know the ins and outs of the castle?"

"Fairly well I would say." Kai said slowly, "May I ask why the sudden interest in my work history?"

Anna was about to answer when there was another knock on the door, "Yes?" Anna called, not taking her eyes off of Kai.

"Its Nicholas ma'am, I have the-" Faster than Kai had ever seen Anna move she was at the door, through it open, and pulled a surprised Nicholas inside.

"What are you crazy?" Anna snapped, "I asked no sorry, I **ordered** you to be discreet. What? You were just going to tell what you had for me out there for everyone to hear?! What would you have done if Elsa walked by?! Huh?!" Kai was shocked. Never had he heard Anna reprimand someone or heard the statement beginning with 'I ordered…' come out of her mouth.

It was also clear to Kai that the young teen never had been reprimanded before, because he could swear that the boy was shaking in his boots, "I-I-I am s-s-sorry. I was not th-th-thinking."

Kai was watching the princess closely, ready to restrain her if need be. However there was something else too, he could swear that her saw Anna's eyes flashing between yellow and then back to blue. Anna forced herself to turn away from the boy as she took a deep breath, "Its ok." Anna bit out after a minute, "Just if I ask you to be discreet, that does not involve you yelling outside my door with what I asked you to bring."

"Y-y-yes ma'am. Uhm…can I tell you what I have now?" Nicholas asked slowly. Anna nodded and held her hand out, "Well here is the blueprint of the dungeon that you asked for," he handed her a large scroll, "and here is the ledgers of the materials that was used from when it was first built, to when your father had one of the holding cells modified fifteen years ago, and when it was repaired two years ago." He handed her the large folder.

"Thank you Nicholas, you are dismissed." Anna said waving the young boy off, although she stopped him one more time before he got to the door, "Before you leave, do you remember what I **ordered **you to say?"

"If anyone asks I am not to tell them anything…" He pauses for a brief moment.

"Who does that apply to especially? If she should ask?" Anna drawled out.

Kai looked at the boy as he took a deep breath, "Your order applies especially to her majesty Queen Elsa."

"Good boy, you are dismissed." Nicholas nodded and walked out the door. Kai and Anna were left in silence for a few moments.

Kai looked at the door then at his princess, "Your highness-"

Anna held up her hand and picked up the black leather bond notebook, the blueprint, and the large file, "Not here. Follow me." Kai followed Anna out of her study and walked swiftly down the halls, as they walked Anna asked, "Did you know that my father and Elsa had built that cell in the dungeons?"

Kai did not need to ask what cell Anna was referring to, "Yes, I was aware of the cell. Your father and Elsa had worked together to build it when her powers were going stronger…" Kai trailed off as they started to descend to the lower catacombs of the castle, "I do not understand-"

"You Kai, are the only one besides me, who knows this castle like uhm…"

"The palm of my hand?"

"Yes! Thank you! You and I know this castle like the palm of our hand." Anna stated proudly, but then her smile fell as she looked at the guards, "You two are dismissed for now, come back in like ten minutes."

The two guards looked at each other, and one said, "Your highness, her majesty has us-"

"I believe I said come back in ten minutes. It was not a request Jameson. Now do I have to repeat myself gentlemen?" Anna asked a bit too sweetly. The two guards looked at each other and saw something in the princess's eyes that did not make them question her. As they started to walk away Anna called out, "If her majesty asks say you are on patrol. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Jameson replied and they walked out leaving Anna and Kai in the dungeons alone.

Anna looks at Kai and motions him down the damp hallway to the door at the very end. Kai sees a steel look appear in Anna's eyes and she slowly takes the key off the hook and unlocks it. Swallowing she pushes the door open and together Kai and Anna enter the small cell, "What are we doing here Anna?" Kai asks without the formality as he is finally getting fed up with the secret animosity that the girl he had considered a surrogate daughter was giving off.

Anna look at him and then walked over to the bed, where enclosed hand gauntlets that was chained to the walls laid on the bed. Anna picked them up and looked around at the small cell before smiling sadly and placing the journal, the blueprint, and the files on the bed. She turned back to see Kai standing in the middle of the cell with his arms crossed and giving her that look of 'enough bull-shit'. "We are going to make this my cell." Anna stated simply as she was reporting the weather. Kai just stared at her with his mouth hanging open.


	7. It Keeps Getting Better

Wow ok so sorry about not updating, I had a minor roadblock with this chapter…I know where I want the story to go (and it was because of this chapter that I got pulled in the direction it is headed), but it was a matter of getting from Point A to the eventual Point B. So without further waiting here is chapter 6…

**Cursed **

**Chapter Six: It keeps getting better**

The past few nights were by of no means easy. Until the cell was finished being built, Anna had confined herself to her room before the sun even set. She even had Gerda or Kai bring her supper to her room, much to the dismay of Kristoff and Elsa who now only saw brief glimpses of her during the day. By the end of the week, Elsa was sick of it. They had respected Anna's wishes long enough and based on the fact that she and Kristoff heard no noise except from the occasion yelps and cries from the transformation process, as far as the Queen was concerned, Anna was fairly tamed in her wolf from, "I am going to get her to eat with me at dinner," she declared firmly when Kristoff asked what they were to do, "I am going to show her that she is not a danger to us. Pabbie gave her the amulet for god sake! She is not a danger to us," Elsa repeated slightly more softly, "and she has to trust in that."

Kristoff sighed as he looked at the old grandfather clock. He did not want to leave the sisters alone, much less Anna, but he had taken enough time off from harvesting as it was, "But she will not even speak to us. How are you going to talk to her if she is not even allowing us to have contact with her during the day?" He questioned almost desperately, "I mean I tried to go to her study to say that I was returning to work yesterday morning, but Kai told me that she was too busy."

Elsa frowned at the explanation. She had indeed noticed that her head of house was spending a lot more time with the Princess this week than any other servant or maid. Even Gerda did not have a clue why the sudden change occurred, but whatever it was, Elsa had a bad feeling about it, "Well we will go see her together then."

"Now?" Kristoff asked getting up just as the Queen did.

"Yes right now." Elsa said firmly as she through her study doors open, "We are going to see my sister!"

Kristoff had a sudden flashback and he smiled to himself. Those were the same words that Anna had said and the same glint in the eyes when she had tried (and epically failed) at rock climbing. They approached the double set of oak doors, before Elsa could knock, they heard voices inside. Before Kristoff could speak, Elsa held up a hand, "What do you mean you cannot do it?" They heard Anna's slightly underlying enraged voice, "Why did I even bother in agreeing to the trade of the metal, just for you to turn around and backstab me?"

"I am sorry your highness, but I did not mean for it to appear that way." They heard a pitiful voice speak with a slight stutter, "I was not trying to backstab you, merely I was under the assumption that the Queen had signed-"

Elsa and Kristoff to wince as they once again heard Anna's dangerous low tone, "This matter does not concern Queen Elsa. This, however, does concern me. Now I order you to go finish the project that I assigned you to do."

"But…Princess Anna…I-" The speaker was cut off violently, "Excuse me did I stutter? I believe I gave you an order, which did not include you to continue talking."

"But I need her Majesty's signature." The voice squeaked out pitifully, "It is after all her castle and by law I need her-"

"And you will have it," they heard Kai speak quickly, "I will get her to sign the form, you have my word."

"Ok I will go continue-"

"Good, Kai show Mr. Grey out of my study." Anna ordered firmly.

"As you wish." Kai said and there were movements and Elsa and Kristoff quickly backed away from the doors as one of them opened.

Elsa and Kristoff were met face to face with a meek middle aged man and Kai. Kai was wearing a surprised look on his face as it slowly turned pale and the man had also gone really pale and visibly gulped. Kristoff was able to see passed Kai and saw Anna also looking quite surprised, but there was something else that he could not place, "Your Majesty," Kai and the man, that they had heard his name as Mr. Grey, said and they bowed with respect.

Elsa held her hand up, "What is going on?"

They watched as the man looked over his shoulder and Anna nodded. He gulped and looked back at Elsa, "I was going over plans with the Princess about a renovation project. I am sorry, but if you'll excuse me."

Before anyone could say anything more, the man scurried away, "Well that was odd." Kristoff commented to break the tense silence that had settled around them.

"He is a bit of an oddball." They heard Anna comment vehemently as she quickly cleared her desk. Once she was done, she looked up and saw Kai still standing with the door open and her sister and Kristoff standing out in the hallway, "Well you guys going to stand out there staring at me or is there something you actually wanted?"

"We need to talk." Elsa said as she recovered, "Now."

Kai looked between his Queen who was looking at him with a slight glare, and then at his Princess who was staring at the Queen with a much firmer glare. He did not know what to do or what to actually say.

Kristoff, sensing Kai's dilemma, decided to help the man out, "Please Anna, we really need to talk to you."

Anna forced herself away from her sister's gaze to look at Kristoff, "**They are pathetic and you know it. Just because you can block my influence, does not mean you can block me out completely…and you know that too. All it takes is one slip of the hand…**"

Anna shook her head and ignored the voice, "Yes. Fine. Ok. Whatever. Kai let them in and please," she looked him in the eye, "make sure it gets finished soon."

"Yes your highness." With that he let his Queen and the ice harvester in the study. He turned to leave the trio along, but not before giving Elsa an apologetic look, which she returned with one of her confused looks.

Once the door closed softly behind them, Elsa slowly faced her sister, "What the heck was all that about?"

"All of what?"

"That meeting, I do not ever believe I heard you talk like that to someone." Elsa said astounded.

Anna sighed. She had to lie…she could not let Elsa know, "It was about one of the cells in the dungeons. That is what it was about." Elsa and Kristoff slowly sat themselves in the chairs that had been previously occupied, as Anna took a seat in hers, "See I figured that if Hans was able to escape with that assassin back at the island with magic, then we needed to reinforce our cells here so that would not happen."

"So you thought building a magic proof cell was the way to go…even though currently we had not heard back from the search party?" Kristoff asked.

"Yea, I mean it is better to be prepared right?"

"And why did you not think this would concern me?" Elsa asked raising an eyebrow, "Or rather us?" She motioned between herself and Kristoff.

Anna sighed, "Well I am the one Hans wants."

"That mystic man tried to kill us first." Kristoff pointed out.

"Yea but I am the one that mystic cursed. Besides," Anna shrugged trying to brush this off as quickly as she could, "I wanted to surprise you."

"**Really? That is a lame excuse.**"

"_Sorry, I am kind of flying by the seat of my pants on this. Besides you are so not helping_," Anna stated in her mind.

She heard the beast sigh. "**So how even without me I have a feeling you would have failed epically**."

Anna ignored the comment and tried to focus back on Elsa who was talking, "-and I do not appreciate the way you have been handling this."

"Wait what?" Anna said thinking they were still on about the cell.

"Anna pay attention! I-we," Elsa again motioned to Kristoff, "care about you and we want to help. You are not a danger to us! How can we help you if you shut us out?"

Anna heard the beast chuckle, "**Help? Do they not realize you are beyond helping? Even with this amulet, you heard the troll. I just have to wait until you slip up and lose this amulet and they are as good as dead when I release my true potential**."

"So not going to happen." Anna spoke answering bother Elsa's question and the beast's comment, "I am not letting you help, because I refuse to let you two get hurt again."

Kristoff watched as he saw her stand up and turn away from them to look out the window. He did not like the way she was acting. It was almost as if she was giving up, and her appearance. He wished he could hear what was going on in her head to cause her to age so much. He motioned for Elsa to stay seated as she had made a move to get up. Kristoff slowly approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to jump and spin quickly around to look at him. He gave her a soft smile and pulled her into a hug, to which she collapsed into him, "Anna, please give us a chance to help. The first time was an accident. We did not know the extent of your…furry little problem." This caused both Anna and Elsa to smirk a bit. Seeing the desired reaction he sobered up and looked deeply into Anna's eyes, "Please…Anna…"

Elsa saw Anna starting to weaken and took the chance, "Let me prove it to you."

"How?" Anna asked looking at her sister, "How can you prove it to me?"

"By you eating with me tonight."

"Just you?" Anna asked. She remembered the first night of the transformation. How if Kristoff had not shown up, she was sure that Elsa would have-

"Yes." Anna looked at Kristoff this time as he continued, "Because this is what I wanted to tell you yesterday. I have to go join the other harvesters, I kind of missed a lot of work so I have to leave for a few days."

Anna looked between him and her sister. She was still hesitant as she glimpsed outside. The sun was already in the west and then looked at the clock. It was already late in the afternoon, past lunch time but still early for dinner. Again looking outside she sighed and then turned back to Kristoff, "Must you go?" She did not want Elsa alone with her, just in case back up was needed and to her Kristoff was her back up.

Elsa's insides felt frozen at her sister's words and her mind flashed to that night and how she had said those same words to her parents. Sure enough Kristoff spoke the words that still haunt her to this very day, "You'll be fine Anna." _Elsa_…her father's voice echoed in her mind as Kristoff had spoken her sister's name.

"Elsa?" Elsa shook her head to stop the scene from replaying itself in her mind's eye to see Anna and Kristoff looking at her, "You ok?" Anna asked a bit worried.

"Yes why wouldn't I be? I have complete faith in you." Elsa said quickly.

Anna coughed and pointed to the ceiling and the walls which was littered with specks of frost, "Oh that. It's nothing to do with you…It was something that was said and I am over it. See?" Quickly the frost disappeared and Elsa gave them an easy smile.

Kristoff looked back to Anna and before he could speak there was a knock, "Enter." Anna called as she pulled away from Kristoff.

Gerda came in and looked right at Elsa, "Your majesty?"

"Yes?"

"The guards just returned and Captain Malone wishes to give his report to you."

Elsa looked between the two and sighs, "Ok first make sure he and his men are well taken care of and then once he has freshened up, summon the Council and have report to the Chambers."

Gerda bowed and reclosed the door, "I guess we are done here?" Anna asked after a moment.

"I guess we are." Kristoff spoke and without warning he pulled Anna into another hug and unlike the other times when he teasingly asked her permission to kiss her, he surprised her as he captured her lips with his in a fierce and desperate passion that she had never felt from him before.

She did not even have to stand tip-toe to equally return his passionate kiss, although he did not have to bend down so much as he used to. He did not even expect her to return the kiss as passionately as he gave it, and he allowed himself to drive on instinct as he gently pushed her against the wall when she rather playfully and gently bit his lip. However as soon as that happened, there was a _**very**_ loud cough which caused the both of them to jump apart and faces to be flushed in embarrassment, "Well I better get going." Kristoff said hastily and gulping as he tried to run/swift walk away from a slightly amused Queen and a rather dazed Princess.

"Yea wouldn't want to fall more behind." Anna breathed out as Kristoff stumbled his way to the door.

"Love you!"

"Yup love you too!" Anna called back. As the door closed Anna was really aware of Elsa being in the room with a grin on her face, "So…" Anna said after a few agonizing minutes.

"That was rather…fiery." Elsa stated with her arms crossed and still allowed an amused smile on her face. She was glad that somewhere underneath all this attitude that her sister had recently come into, her Anna was still there.

"We got caught up in the moment."

"Some moment."

"Aren't you supposed be preparing for this meeting or something?" Anna asked trying to get her sister off her back.

"You are still the topic of this conversation." Elsa said, "Which makes you my number one priority at the moment."

Anna groaned, "Fine ok? I will have dinner with you. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Elsa smirked knowing she won the first round. Turning she started walking toward the door as she responded with, "Oh I am just getting started. But I am holding you to it. Dinner, dining room, be there."

"Where else would I be if I said I'd have dinner with you?" Anna called out as Elsa closed the door. Releasing a heavy sigh, Anna once again sat in her chair and allowed her head to fall into her arms that was resting on the desk, "Calm down. It is just dinner." She said out loud to herself, "Something that you have done millions of times with Elsa before. I will not hurt her." She added firmly.

"**You might not…but I eventually will**." The beast spoke to her. And of course that is what she was afraid of.

Dinner time was called all too soon for Anna as she and Elsa sat down to the table. Over the main course, Elsa had informed her that the guards still have not been able to track down Hans or that mystic assassin, "**You will not be able to find them.**" Anna heard the beast's mocking voice inside her head, "**Why not just give up?**"

"So there is no lead?" Anna asked ignoring the voice completely.

"No I am sorry Anna, but we are trying." Elsa was looking at her sister with wariness as the servants collected their plates and served dessert, "Anna-"

"I want to be locked in my room when the sun sets." Anna said as she didn't take a bite of the cheesecake, but instead chose to take a sip of tea, "**Yea like that is really going to help.**" Came a sarcastic tone in her head. Gift? Yea right, what was Pabbie thinking? The annoying beast was definitely a curse in her mind, "I agreed to dinner, but I will be in my room once the sun sets."

Elsa was watching her sister and she could see the internal struggle as light as day. It was in her eyes that Elsa could see this happening, "I refuse to let you continue locking yourself in your room Anna."

"I do not want to hurt you again Elsa." Anna said firmly, "We have been over this. Surely you of all people can see where I am coming from."

Elsa winced but she recovered, "I can which is why I am not going to treat you like a monster." Elsa watched as Anna flinched, so as gently as she could she said, "You are not a monster, so stop treating yourself like a monster." Elsa suddenly had a memory come to her, and a voice rang in her inner ear, "_Do not be the monster they fear you are_."

"Look I am just taking precautions." Anna said firmly again trying to make her sister listen to reason (which was odd considering Elsa had always been her voice of reason).

"Which is what I told myself for thirteen years," Elsa shot back, "look how well that turned out."

Anna glared and Elsa could faintly see the amulet around her sister's neck glowing slightly, "I do not want to hurt you."

"And you won't."

"I did last time."

"You were not in full control last time. Like Kristoff said, we underestimated your furry little problem. However this time you have the amulet." Elsa pointed out. Anna let out a huff, "Why do you want to be locked up?"

"Because I refuse to put you or anyone else at risk." Anna said.

"But if you treat yourself like a monster, you are giving it satisfaction." Elsa said.

"**Got to give it to her**," Anna heard the beast purr softly, "**she is really smart. How are you two related?**"

"_Enough!_" Anna yelled in her mind.

"**What? Just saying that your sister is an intelligent being. Shame that I have to kill her…**"

Anna blocked out the voice and turned her attention back to her sister, "What would you suggest?" Anna asked giving up on arguing with her sister.

Elsa looked thoughtful and was slightly perplexed. It was unlike Anna to give up so easily, so she was wondered what brought this on, "That you just let it go."

"Let it go? Seriously?"

"Well how else am I going to put it? Let me be there for you." Elsa explained.

Anna thought for a moment. She already had Kai and the palace architect, Mr. Grey, working on the cell that would soon be hers. However if Elsa was right, she might not need it after all. Which had gotten her thinking that Elsa was right about a few things: she had the amulet that allowed her to hopefully keep herself in check, she felt like she had better control of herself, and she did not want to give the beast, Hans, or that mystic bastard any satisfaction. Allowing her mind to again run through those thoughts she had listed and thought back to the previous nights.

So far the amulet was actually working when she was alone, and it was created to help her recognize Elsa and Kristoff, perhaps maybe there was hope. Hoping her sister was right, she at least had the right to see how well it would actually worked and the only way to do that was to be with Elsa when she transformed. Also as she was looking at it, Kristoff was away so perhaps it was good to take this one person at a time, "Ok fine, however I have a few stipulations."

"Stipulations?" Elsa asked unused to hearing the unfamiliar word fall from her sister's lips.

"Yes," Anna nodded and held up one finger, "for starters we go into the ballroom and lock the doors in there." Then she held up another finger, "Before I start to transform you place me in an ice cage."

"No!" Elsa slammed her hands on the table causing the remaining silverware to shake and stood up from the table, "I agree to the first, but not to the second." She began to pace, "I will not lock my sister up in an ice cage!" Elsa yelled finally.

Anna sighed, placed her elbows on the table, and rested her head against her clasp hands, "That is my stipulations. As I am transforming I want to be locked in the cage like you locked me in before."

Elsa stopped pacing and looked at her weary sister. She could see that Anna was really stressed not only that but it looked like her sister had aged significantly. In fact if she did not know any better, she would have guessed that Anna was the older one of the two of them, "Anna I am not-"

Anna held up her hand and stood up to meet her sister, "I am not asking, I am telling you what I want. Besides if all goes well and I remain in control, then you can let me out."

Elsa looked at her sister and felt rather small, and it was not due to Anna's physical appearance. It was almost as Anna was wielding some sort of foreign power (and it was not the beast that Elsa was referring too). She saw Anna's eyes flash slightly, it was not as bad as before, but it was still intimidating, "Ok fine. Deal."

"We stay in the ballroom until sunrise. No one comes into the ballroom." Anna said firmly, "Whoever goes in with us, stays with us."

"Who else would go in with us?" Elsa asked, but then she had her answer when someone or something came in.

"Party in the ballroom?! Can I come?!" They looked over to see Olaf bounding toward them happily.

Anna raised her eyebrows and Elsa sighed, "Fine, but before we go in there we should probably get some supplies. Let's go." They left the dining room with Olaf chatting happily about his day and the kids, and the sisters welcomed the distraction.

It was getting late as Elsa created the ice cage. Seemingly satisfied with her creation she looked to her sister, who was walking around it and inspecting it closely, "Well?"

"Nicely done." Anna grabbed the door and opened it and stepped inside. Elsa and Olaf looked at one another and then at Anna who nodded. Elsa closed the door and locked Anna inside.

"Are you going to be ok Anna?" Olaf asked quietly. The sisters had told him what had happened and why this was occurring and he was scared. He was scared for his best friends and wanted to go anything to help them.

Before Anna could respond, she felt the familiar feeling she grown accustomed to in the past few nights and collapsed to her knees while gripping her stomach. She tried to give a fleeting look to Elsa, who understood and pulled Olaf away from the cage. Anna tried to hold back her screams as her spine started to once again elongate and the ribcage became deeper and larger. The familiar burning and painful convulsions pulsed throughout her body as her shoulders and hips curved to accommodate her form and the leg bones grew and thickened. Arm bones did the same, curving inward toward her chest.

Elsa and Olaf watched on as Anna held in her screams as hands and feet disappeared as paws formed. They were not able to turn away as Anna's head shifted and became more wolf like. Elsa could hear her sister's whimpers escaping her mouth and they became more canine. Olaf for once could not come up with any humor in the situation to make it better as he caught glimpses as Anna's teeth grew and sharpened and amber fur sprouted over every inch of his friend. Just then there was a tortured yell, a strangling sound then a loud canine yelp echoed through the ballroom.

The massive wolf laid on the floor whimpering slightly, before achieving the goal of standing, "Anna?" Olaf braved as he took a step to the cage before Elsa could stop him, "You ok?"

Elsa was watching with caution as Anna shook her head and looked at them. Looking closely at her wolf sister, she could see blue eyes and the wolf wagged its tail, "Ok this is a good sign right?" Olaf asked looking at his creator.

Elsa nodded slowly not wanting to jinx it. She could see the amulet around the creature's neck, it was glowing brightly and Elsa walked up to the cage with caution. The wolf stopped wagging it's and sat on its hunches. Elsa could see the wariness in its blue eyes as she knelt down to be a bit more eye level with the wolf, "Ok how about we do this," Elsa said slowly and softly not wanting to startle the wolf, "Anna bark once if you recognize me."

The wolf cocked its head to the side and barked once. Elsa broke out into a grin which caused the wolf to stand back up and wag its tail furiously. Elsa and Olaf laughed as Anna ran around the cage with playful energy, "Ok ok Anna ok settle down quick settle down." The wolf paused and sat down to give her sister her fullest attention, "Ok bark once if you know who this is or twice if you do not know." Elsa said pointing to the snowman.

"She should know me." Olaf cut in before Anna could open her mouth.

Elsa looked at the snowman and held up a finger to her sister. Anna nodded and gave her sister a serious look to show her understanding, "Just because she recognizes me does not mean she recognizes you. The amulet is meant for her to not only recognize herself, but myself and Kristoff as well."

"So you are saying she could perceive me as a threat or something?" Olaf asked depressed.

"She might, or she might not. And if she doesn't, it is better to have her get to know you while she is in there so we can let her out. And if she does then we have no worries." Elsa said brightly trying to raise his mood.

Olaf thought this over and smiled, "Ok!" Looking back at his friend he asked, "Do you recognize me?" The wolf barked once and nodded her head furiously, "Yay! Can we let her out now? Please? I do not like her being in there."

"What do you say Anna?" Elsa asked.

Anna thought for a moment. So far the only thing occupying her mind was her. There was no deep dark pressure or mocking dark voice inside her head. Nothing but complete silence with the exception of her own musings. Allowing another moment or two to pass she became excited and took this as a sign.

The wolf ran around in a circle and took a playful position. Elsa laughed and melted the cage and Anna came bounding out and took off around the room, just to come to a halt in front of her sister. Elsa reached out slowly, still not wanting to risk any setbacks, and Anna immediately allowed the contact and Elsa ran her fingers through her sister's soft fur. Olaf too joined in, Anna suddenly got a little idea and taking Olaf by surprise she took one of his stick arms, "HEY!" He yelled as Anna started to tease him with it, "First Sven is after my nose and now you are going to take my arm? Really?!"

Elsa started laughing and without knowing it, she and Anna thought the same thing: Perhaps things were starting to look up and get better.

In the meantime in the mountains, "That was too close." Hans said furiously, "I thought for sure we were done."

The mystic assassin rolled his eyes, "Stop being melodramatic. You know I placed a cloaking charm and all types of security alarms around this area."

"But it was still too close." Hans muttered out, "When can we start to implement the next part? I mean what is taking so long? Shouldn't she have done it by now?"

The mystic sighed and looked into his crystal ball, and what they saw made Hans exclaim out multiple curses. The Queen and a wolf was playing with what appeared to be a stick and there was a one armed snowman chasing them around the ballroom, "What the hell is this?!"

"It seems the amulet is stronger than I had anticipated." The man stated.

"Damn it!" Hans exclaimed, "I told you this was a bad idea."

So much you know, the man thought to himself. However what he had said was true, the old troll certainly knew his magic. But then again so did he, and he knew that all magic had a weakness…his own plan started to form, "Leave this to me."

"Last time I did that you betrayed me."

"No not betrayed you, helped you. And I know how to get her to take it off." The man said, "You waited for two years. You can wait a bit longer."

Hans looked at him sternly, "One more mess up and you are through." With that he retreated to his side of the cave.

The man smirked as he started his side plan, but before he started to write he pulled out a book and opened it to the middle where he pulled out a long page. It was a beautiful drawing painted on the parchment. It was a picture of a man with a large eagle next to him and then across from the man there was a woman with a large wolf next to her. The position they were in suggested they were in the heat of battle as they also held staffs at the ready. In the background shown ruins of what appeared to be a kingdom. Hans is wrong, the man thought as he refolded the parchment and placed it back in the book, one more mess up and he is the one that is through.


	8. Igniting the Storm

So as much as I love getting favorites and follows, I would also appreciate a few more reviews just for you know…encouragement. Not that I am ungrateful or anything, but it would kind of be nice…just saying…now onward yo ho!

**Cursed **

**Chapter Seven: Igniting the Storm**

Over the course of the next few nights, Anna had transformed around Elsa and Olaf without any issues. The transformations were becoming quicker and a lot less painful as her body was getting used to them. Even during the day, Elsa was starting to notice that her sister's demeanor was coming back to normal as Anna started to hang around her and seek out her company again. Although there was something that Anna had deemed necessary to keep under strict lock and key, and that was her cell. She was thankful that the architect had kept the description as to why the remodeling was happening so vague that Elsa had no questions when she had signed that paper. Also she had received confirmation that the cell was nearly completed, which made her feel at ease. But under all this seemingly positive events of these few nights, this was only the calm before the storm.

Anna had soon fallen back into her ways when she had felt something was amiss, and was locked in her study. She had told Kai and Gerda that under no circumstances (unless it was life or death related) was she to be disturbed. She paced in front of the fire place feeling really agitated and confused. Her mind had been silent for a while with only her own thoughts and feelings filling the space. Her fingers felt the amulet around her neck and gently rubbed the stone between her thumb and pointer finger as she bit her lip. If it had been any other day, she would have welcomed this, however she was more disturbed than anything else.

Taking a deep breath she sat on the couch and looked into the fire place intently as if willing it to give her the answer. Why? She thought to herself, why did you suddenly disappear? Where did you go? She laid down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. The sarcastic, cynical, and dark voice was not present anywhere within her it seemed. This would normally be a welcome to anyone, including her, but instead of feeling relief like she felt the first night she had transformed in front of Elsa and Olaf, she felt worried. It had become a part of her, and it felt like she lost her other half. She suddenly felt her eye lids closing as she stared up at the ceiling. The nights were starting to catch up to her, and of course waking up early in the mornings were not helping. Soon she allowed sleep to win her over, and she felt herself falling into unconsciousness.

Elsa was coming out of her study around lunch time and walked passed Anna's closed study door. She had meant to go visit her sister during one of her mini breaks in between meetings, but both Kai and Gerda both said that Anna did not want to be disturbed. Frowning she was going to keep walking, when out of nowhere the doors swung so wide open that Elsa had to jump away to avoid being smacked in the face by the wood doors, "What-"

But she was pushed out of the way so hard and fierce that she fell backwards on her backside, which she was sure would leave a major bruise by a sweaty, frantic, and pale faced Anna, "MOVE!" Anna yelled as she ran towards the direction of her bedroom.

Elsa shook off the shock and jumped up to swiftly follow her panicked sister, "Anna wait!"

Thankful that Anna had not closed the door to her bedroom, Elsa ran in just as she heard Anna heaving in the bathroom. The door was closed, but Elsa knocked anyway, "Anna are you ok? What happened?"

Anna was over the toilet as she let out another heave as she emptied all the contents in her stomach. She could hear Elsa's panicked voice, but she could not answer as she took in big gulps of air. What the hell did I just dream?! She asked herself as she looked into the mirror in her bathroom. Her face was really pale and still sweaty. Cupping her hands in the basin, she splashed some of the cool water on her face, and sighed contently as the water seemed to wash away the _**VERY**_ vivid dream. It was so vivid that she could smell the smoke and blood, hear the cries of every man, woman, and child in her dream, and see the mass destruction of the kingdom…_**WHICH**_ was not even _**HER**_ kingdom! So why the hell did I just have a dream about a destroyed kingdom that was not even Arendelle?! Anna frantically thought.

"Anna I am going to get Dr. Shepard if you do not answer me this instant!" She heard Elsa threaten, and by the sound of it Elsa was trying to get her attention for a long time.

"No!" Anna managed to get out as she dried her face with the towel on the sink, "No need for Shepard! I am coming…" Taking a few more deep breaths Anna put the nightmare aside in her mind to be analyzed for later as she faced her frantic looking sister.

Elsa's eyes quickly scanned over her sister and saw that color was slowly coming back to Anna's face, however it was her eyes that held a slightly dark look to them, "Are you ok? What happened?"

"I had a nightmare…a real bad one." Anna muttered as she took a seat on her bed, however she felt something stir within her and slowly another presence entered her mind, "_You are still here_…" She said in her mind as she greeted the beast inside of her.

"**I was sleeping in my little cell that was created for me by your amulet…however you woke me up…**" The beast answered grudgingly.

"_All this time you were asleep?! In some hole or cell or whatever in my mind?_"

"**What else am I supposed to do when I cannot have any fun? So what was so dire that you disturbed me I wonder?**"

Before Anna could focus on answering her 'mind-mate', she saw Elsa sigh and sat down next to her, "Want to talk about it?"

"No, not really no." Anna whispered not looking at Elsa. It was still too fresh…too raw to even think about. However she felt something trying to pick the mental lock that she placed on the memory in her mind and all of a sudden she felt a new emotion…one that was not her own, "**It cannot be!**" the voice exclaimed suddenly. For once the voice held no sarcastic or cynical tone to it. It held astonishment, wonder, awe, and even apologetic.

"_You know something about this?!_" Anna asked it frantically and for once when she wanted an answer, she did not get it.

Elsa saw her sister's eyes widen and had a panic look to them, "Anna!" She yelled to gain her sister's attention. Once she had it she gently grabbed her sister's hands and squeezed them, "Tell me what happened."

Anna swallowed and shook her head as she slipped her hands from her sister's cooler ones. Ignoring the flash of hurt that crossed Elsa's face, Anna stood up, "I do not want to talk about it. Please do not make me talk about it."

Elsa watched as Anna hugged herself and was pulled into multiple memories of doing the same thing herself when she was trying to fight for control. Standing up, Elsa held her hands up in a surrender like fashion, "Ok Anna, we do not have to talk just listen to me ok?" Anna nodded as she felt another panic attack coming on. Elsa, seeing this, kept her voice low and gentle, just like she would be talking to her sister in her wolf form after just transforming, "You told me you are ok, and even though I think otherwise I trust you. I am here and ok, Olaf is here and ok, and I just heard from a guard that ran into Kristoff and his men that he is ok too. In fact they are supposed to be coming home tomorrow he said."

Hearing this gave Anna the distraction that she needed. She looked at her sister, "You heard about Kristoff? How?"

"I had sent another wave of search parties to follow a lead on Hans and that assassin. Apparently some of the members of the search party had intercepted the ice harvesters in the mountains as they were returning, and Kristoff wanted to send word back to us." Elsa said keeping her voice gentle.

Anna nodded following her sister's words. She had almost had the memory of the nightmare filed back away in the depths of her mind, when the voice said, "**No…no do not do that…please**…"

"_Why? Are you going to tell me what this is about?_" Anna asked as she started to regain control of her emotions.

There was a pause and a sigh, "**In time…I need to be sure because if what I think is happening after seeing this, I am pissed off at the wrong people and have been majorly deceived by that priest who cursed you…for that I apologize…my Queen**."

"What did you call me?!" Anna yelled out loud in shock.

"What?! I didn't say anything!" Elsa yelled startled at her sister's sudden outburst.

"No not you," Anna said waving her sister off, "the voice inside my head just said something that I do not understand what is going on."

Elsa felt her eye twitch…voice inside her sister's head? Could she mean-? "The monster?"

"**I am not technically a monster, nor a demon, nor any of the evil things that I perceived myself to be, which by the way was not of my own accord. If anything you and I used to be really close friends…in another life if this really is your true memories**." It said to her in a mournful tone.

Anna could not even fathom how to respond to her sister or the voice in her head. Her mind had been officially blown by all this. What the hell is going on? "**As I said, please allow me access to your mind…I can probably answer everything.**"

"_Fine. As long as you keep your word to me and explain what the hell is happening_." Her tone now was one of authority that she did not know she possessed.

"**As you wish**."

"Anna? Hello?" Anna jumped when her sister's hand was waved in front of her face.

"What?"

"I asked you a question."

"Oh uhm…yea I do not know. You know me…space case Anna." Anna said, "You hungry cause I am starved. Let's go!" She pulled Elsa out of the room and led her down to the dining room before Elsa could even protest. Anna knew she was going to be interrogated by Elsa eventually, but she did not want to face the nightmare that she had. How could they be my memories of another life? She was hoping that the voice would answer her again, but knew that if she seemed too focused, then Elsa would start to question her sanity even more. So she tried not to think about it, even though it was slowly becoming harder to do as they sat down in the dining room for lunch.

Once lunch was served, Elsa wisely kept quiet and did not pester Anna anymore about the nightmare or the voice inside her sister's mind. She knew that if she pushed too far, then that would not have ended well for the both of them (especially since Anna was more short of temper than Elsa was accustomed to having only experienced it once and that was during the first night of the transformation process).

So instead she opted for a more subtle approach in how to assess her sister's wellbeing…and that was just to observe her. She took a sip of her wine, and looking over the rim of the glass she saw how much more reserved and refined Anna was. Under normal circumstances, Anna would not hesitate to shovel mass amounts of food in her mouth at once. And as of late with her being cursed, her already bottomless stomach was…well…like a black hole. However now it was like a mirror image of herself, Anna was calmly eating and taking small bites. It unnerved Elsa as she watched her sister as she placed the glass down and resumed eating as she cut a piece of chicken and plopped it in her mouth. As Elsa chewed she also took notice of Anna's eyes as they were the only clue that was any help in determining Anna's mood.

For the most of the time in the past, her sister's eyes were a nice cerulean blue that would just gleam with love, happiness, and even a glint of mischievous. Now however they were slightly dark and haunted with not a hint of those familiar gleams in their depths, although Elsa had to admit that over the week, she had seen the brightness slowly returning. Even in her wolf form, Anna's eyes were the bright blue that Elsa had come to love although they also held flecks of gold in them from time to time which showed that she did indeed have a completely different side to her if or when provoked, "So Anna…"

Anna jumped at being addressed. It had been quiet all throughout lunch with neither of them speaking, although she could sense Elsa watching and observing her. She was trying, but failing, to appear fine and normal despite the whispers of the voice inside her head as she felt her mind slowly being pulled apart and memories that she long since buried randomly resurfacing and while she did have some good ones that subconsciously brought her joy, there were some bad ones that brought out feelings of anger, hurt, resentment, sadness, and guilt, "Elsa?" Anna eventually responded in just as much of an even tone as Elsa had given her.

Elsa sighed and placed her fork and knife down as the servants came around to collect the plates. Anna had done the same and soon the servants were gone and once again they were alone in the room, "I was just wondering…this voice-" Oh no, Anna groaned softly to herself, "is it the same one that took you over that first night, or the one we had gotten the amulet for?"

Elsa tried to think back if Anna ever talked about the voice since that first night, but she could not remember if Anna ever did. Anna on the other hand did not know how to respond. She never mentioned a voice until now, "**Tell her the truth.**"

"_Why?_"

"**We may need her later on.**"

"_You are going to stop trying to kill them?_" Anna asked slowly and softly not daring to believe what the voice was insinuating.

"**Honestly I do not know. I have just about less control over myself than you do over me when not wearing that amulet my Queen**."

"_Yea you are so explaining that one to me later_." Anna responded, then out loud she looked at Elsa who was watching her curiously, "Yes."

"And were you just talking to it?" Elsa asked.

Anna looked shocked and before she responded, the servants came back with a small dessert dish. The women kept silent as they were served and waited for them to leave. Once they were left in private Anna asked, "How did you know?"

Elsa had been watching Anna, more in particular her sister's eyes. They had been a dark cerulean blue in color as she had noticed earlier, but at the mention of the voice, she noticed that they had a slightly golden and red gleam to them mixed with her sister's natural cerulean blue. Then she was careful to watch her sister's, albeit slight almost nonexistent, facial expressions, "Your eyes," Elsa answered after a minute, "and your very slight facial expressions."

Elsa watched as Anna mouthed 'my eyes and expressions?' "**My bad I guess…although I will again admit that your cousin is a very intelligent being.**"

"_She is my sister…you know that_." Anna said slowly.

"**Sorry I got caught up in memories. In your other life you two were cousins. She lived with you however when you two were really young in your palace. I'll explain later**," the voice sighed, "**by the way you had given me the name Flame**."

Elsa again saw the flecks of gold and red flash across her sister's eyes and she saw the facial expressions on Anna shift from confusion to more astonishment. Anna's thoughts were jumbled and she felt the voice, now she knew as Flame, leave her mind again. Flame, Anna thought allowing the name to roll off her mental tongue. The familiarity of it-and suddenly she let out a small gasp as she remembered the nightmare and in a flash she was in the midst of it:

**The sky was filled with a crimson red as the blood of the slain soldiers laid on the ground. She could smell the smoke in the air as fires were burning the homes of the civilians and cries of pain and agony swept through like wind. She was watching in sheer awe and massive amounts of fear as the bottom of palace in front of her was being coiled by a massive black cobra whose hood was fanned out and ready to strike. Then spinning around she saw a raging tornado like fire appear and out of it came a gigantic wolf. **

**Then suddenly in another flash she was on the balcony and she saw a woman and the hood assassin fighting with swords and normal like versions of the animals she had seen. However this part was different than the before she had witnessed it. At first she could not have seen the people fighting, much less hear them speak, but now everything was clear as crystal as she heard the hood figure say, "Surrender Anna, there is nothing you can do."**

_That is supposed to be me?! _She gasped out and sure enough upon further inspection it was her…only she was different.

"**As long as I live there is plenty I can do." She heard herself say calmly.**

_No, this is impossible!_ However the words Flame had spoken to her came flooding back, this was a memory…of another life…

"**Your kingdom is in ruins, your people are all but dead, face it there is nothing left. If you surrender you can come with me. We can be together. Just give me the Eternity Crystal." The hood figure said. **

Anna was watching the two closely and she saw that something was not right though…he looked like he really meant it and somehow she felt an ache in her heart as she watched, even though she knew that this man in front of her had recently attempted to take the life of Elsa, Kristoff, and cursed her. However watching her past-self, she saw the disgusted expression at the statement, **"Even in death I would never let you have it."**

"**Fine then you leave me no choice. Serpent! Poison Strike!" The hooded assassin ordered and lunged.**

**"Flame! Inferno Sniper!" **Anna watched as her past-self commanded the wolf who was now engulfed in the flames and charged at the snake while she defended herselfagainst the assault.

**In some distant part of her mind, she could hear her sister's voice trying to reach her, but she was too engrossed in the creatures that had started to fight as their masters attacked. What was even more amazing was that out of nowhere both the past-Anna and the hooded assassin vanished. She watched momentarily stunned as Flame and Serpent stopped and then changed attacks. It then somehow dawned on her that the two people she was watching before somehow assumed the bodies of the animals. She felt a pang in her mind as if it was a sense of approval, so she knew that she was right.**

**Then the wolf was again engulfed in a fire tornado spiral as it charged towards the snake. In a great ball of light the snake vanished and the hooded assassin was left in a heap with burns and scratches covering his body.**

**The wolf also vanished as she watched herself reappear in its place. Anna gasped at the amount of scratches she was covered in and was panting heavily, "Anna…" He growled and tried to stand up.**

The present Anna gasped as she watched herself magically summon a staff and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as she heard her own voice filled with such authority that she doubted even Elsa could possess just strength, **"As the Highest Queen Reagent of the Golden Age I banish you to the Null Void!" The staff started to glow and the last thing she heard before as there was a flash of white light consuming us was man's screams of agony and defeat.**

"Anna?" Elsa called out as she watched Anna's eyes coming back into focus. She was scared when Anna had suddenly zoned out on her. It was even more unnerving as she felt an unknown power radiating off her younger sister, "Anna!" Elsa yelled as she touched her sister's shoulder to go to shake her.

Anna gasped loudly, jumped up, and shook her head. Elsa followed suit as she stood up, "Oh my god! Oh my god!" Anna stated over and over as she began pacing, "Flame was right…it was a memory…oh my god!"

"Anna whoa! Slow down!" Elsa called out trying to stop her sister from her violent pace, "Who is Flame? What is going on?"

Anna was not stopping and Elsa continued to follow her, "That man…that mystical assassin…I knew him…I do not know how…but I knew him."

"**Oh you knew him alright…**" Came the voice again, "**But now is not the time to tell you…**"

Anna got a steel look in her eye and ignored Elsa's frantic questions, "I need to go to the trolls. If Flame is not going to help me, then I am going to help myself."

"Wait what?! Anna!" But Anna again ignored Elsa's calls as she all but fled the dining room. Elsa through her hands up as Kai came to her, "Your Majesty you have a meeting with-"

"Screw the meetings! In fact cancel them!" Elsa yelled forgetting her proper decorum.

"What? But-"

"Just do it! I have to go!"

"Where?!" Kai yelled, but he received no response as he was left in the dining room utterly confused.

In the meantime the hooded figure was watching in the crystal ball as the Queen of Snow and Ice and Anna raced out of the gates on horseback. He took a big risky gamble when he sent her those memories of her past so early in the plan, but it was necessary because soon that meant that he could act. Once one memory was unlocked, more was bound to come. There was a low hiss the echoed in the hallway and the hooded figure brought his hand down and gave the creature a pat, "Easy Serpent…"

In the ball he could see that the sun was just settling in the west. Not close to sunset, but he knew that by the time they reached the trolls, there was no hope to making it back to the safety of their castle, "Ok you ready?" He asked the snake. The black cobra brought itself to its full height and flared its large black hood out, "You know what to do, go do it. She has to make sure to lose the amulet."

The snake hissed and slithered out of the cave. Hans, who was entering the area, jumped as the snake slithered passed him, "What the hell is that?!"

"The next part of the plan."

"You haven't started that yet? What the hell have you been doing?"

"Letting the moment build up. Remember, the more she kept the monster contained, the more dangerous she becomes." Hans looked at the crystal ball just as the image of Anna and Elsa dimmed out and he grinned for the first time in weeks, it seemed the storm had just been ignited.


	9. Let The Storm Rage On

Ok so the way I have this planned out is more interactions with Flame (hopefully you like him, just like I do). Next chapter will be the actual history maybe on him and his connection to Anna, and you may find out more about our mystical assassin. I do want to say that I am almost at the half way point of this story right now (possibly a couple more chapters).

Anyway thanks to those that are following and adding the story to their favorites. Extra thanks to the reviews, with that said…please review I do not bite, I promise…my bark is infinitely a lot worse.

**Cursed **

**Chapter Eight: Let the Storm Rage On**

Elsa was having a real difficult time in keeping up with her sister as they cantered through the woods and weaving in and out through the trees. Throughout their years of isolation from one another Elsa had always known that she was the academic. She had enjoyed reading, writing, mathematics, and history. Anna on the other hand had her interests in the arts and athletics. Elsa had heard things from the tutors or her parents when they thought that she was not paying attention. She heard often heard that Anna was an extremely gifted artist and could hold a conversation just discussing any and all works of art. When music was concerned, Anna had a real gift when it came to the piano. As for athletics, Anna had enjoyed playing the more dangerous sports such as fencing (Elsa still had not discovered how Anna had talked their parents to allowing those lessons to occur), archery, and (in Elsa's opinion) horseback riding.

Now since Elsa was cantering through the woods on her own horse going after her sister, she knew how to ride…only she had just recently learned which was due to the help of her sister. When she was younger, their father tried to teach her; however Elsa was scared and couldn't control her powers around the large creatures, so she had eventually given up much to the King's disappointment, "Anna!" Elsa called trying to push her horse, Axel, to go a bit faster. Anna's horse was named Pharis and both of their horses were stallions. Although Elsa had also heard that Anna had managed to tame Pharis when not one of the stable hands or their father had been able to. To this day how her sister had managed to do that remained a mystery.

Anna did not hear her sister as she tried to push Pharis to go faster as they came to a cleared path. However when she saw a sleigh blocking her way, she was forced to a stop, "Whoa!" Anna yelled pulling up on the reins.

Pharis came to a sudden halt which then made Axel halt suddenly as well, "Whoa!" Elsa also let out a call and too pulled up on the reins, "Anna what-?"

"Anna? Elsa?" A familiar voice called out to them. Turning their heads, they saw Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven coming over to them.

"Kristoff? Olaf, what are you doing here?" Elsa asked as Anna was still a bit shocked.

"I heard Kristoff was coming home and I wanted to meet him and tell him to hurry back." Olaf said, "Besides I missed Sven."

Sven smiled and tried to teasingly take Olaf's nose to which Olaf laughed. However Kristoff was looking worried, "Is everything ok? What are you two doing out?"

Before Elsa could respond, Anna said, "We are going to see Pabbie. I need his help and I need it bad. Now move your sleigh please."

"I just came from the trolls, but why do you need to see Pabbie? Is there something wrong with your amulet?" Kristoff asked as he slowly started to approach the horse.

Anna groaned, her patience was waning thin real fast, "**Relax, it is not his fault he doesn't know…in fact none of them do.**"

"_I for one do not know anything either because someone refuses to tell me_." She responded as she abruptly turned her horse around and led Pharis a few feet back ignoring Olaf, Elsa, and Kristoff's questions.

"**I am sorry, but I kind of told you all I know…**"

"_Why do I not believe that_?" Anna replied in her mind. Then out loud she yelled, "Ya!" Pharis broke into another canter and then giving another command she had Pharis jump over the sleigh and she continued to the Valley of the Living Rock.

Kristoff had thrown himself on the ground when Anna had come charging back around. Shaking his head, he looked at the direction to where Anna had taken off to and then looked at Elsa who was also on the ground in a large pile of snow, after having been thrown from her startled horse. Elsa shook her head and watched as Axel was running back in the direction they had just come from, "No, no, no! Come back!" She yelled, but the horse did not either hear her, or was too startled from the abrupt change, "Damn!"

Olaf and Kristoff exchanged looks, it was real rare to hear a swear word coming out of the Queen's mouth. Hell Kristoff did not even know she knew that word. Thinking quickly, he got up and started to re-hook Sven up to the sleigh, "Come on! We have to go after her."

Elsa got up with the help of Olaf, "I hope no one panics when they see Axel, although Anna and I did miraculously manage to sneak out and take the horses without them knowing." She then frowned as she recalled as to what happened before she ran off after her sister, "Kai did see me run off though after Anna, but hopefully he will keep the calm."

"You mean you two snuck out? How did that happen?" Kristoff asked.

"Rephrase that to what happened to get Anna so panicky?" Olaf rephrased as they all got into the sleigh.

Elsa thought for a moment, "You know I am not entirely sure myself." As Kristoff snapped the reins to make Sven run, Elsa began to recount what happened when Kristoff was away.

Anna had slowed Pharis to a steady trot and bit her lip as they made their cautious approach to the outskirts of the area. Sighing, she made Pharis stop just off the edge of the area and his rider got off, "Ok bud stay here alright? I will be right back." She said gently as she tied his reins to the tree. At the rate they were cantering, she had a good twenty minutes ahead of Kristoff, Elsa, and Olaf. Plus she figured that Kristoff would have to take the slight long way around due to his sleigh, "**Are you sure you want to force them?**" She heard Flame ask, "**Sometimes it is best to let these things run its course my Queen…**"

"_I am sure…consequences be damned_." She answered so firmly that she startled herself. Flame stayed silent in her mind, as she patted her horse's nose.

Pharis noticed the change in his rider, but only grunted as a response as he watched his rider enter the area. Anna sighed heavily again as she looked around the large area and she called out,  
"Hello, I came here to see Pabbie."

Suddenly, the ground began to shake a little and the rocks started to roll and morphed into trolls. They all circled around the princess, making it impossible to get out while two of the trolls rolled up to the person, "Princess Anna!" A female troll named Bulda exclaimed out loud, causing a lot of the trolls to mutter among themselves in shock. Seeing the girl was becoming uncomfortable, Bulda silenced them, "Kristoff was just here! Did you see him? Is Kristoff with you?" She asked trying to look behind the princess.

"No, I kind of took off and left him and Elsa in the middle of the woods twenty minutes ago." Anna explained trying to keep her voice in check as her nerves were already shot, "I need to see Grand Pabbie." Anna said firmly as she remembered what he and Elsa had done, "Please. It is important."

Before any of the trolls could respond, Pabbie came rolling over to Anna, making everyone quickly moved out of the way, "Princess Anna! What brings you here again? Everything alright?" Pabbie asked with curiosity in his voice.

"Is there some place we can talk…privately?" Anna requested as she glanced to Bulda and Cliff.

Pabbie nodded, "Of course, yes follow me." He led them to a more secluded area and the other trolls took that as a sign to disperse, which they all did except for Bulda and Cliff. They were worried for the girl that stole their son's heart. So looking at each other, they discretely followed the elder troll and the princess.

Before Anna could start explaining her recent incident, Pabbie held up a hand and waved her down. Anna knelt down and he grabbed her hands, "Just focus on what happened. Do not talk, just recall the moment…the reason that brought you here." Pabbie instructed ominously as he closed his eyes. Anna had also closed her eyes and allowed her mind drift to the memory and what Flame had spoken to her. In fact she noticed that Flame surprisingly kept quiet throughout this process, but for now she did not dwell on that and just did what Pabbie had told her to do.

Taking a deep breath he released the princess's hands and waved his in the air. Like so many times before, Anna saw images swirling in the magic, "Is this what you saw Anna?" Anna saw the events in the dream unfolding right before her eyes. In the midst of the awe that she was re-experiencing, she could only give a numb nod as a way of confirmation.

Eventually she did find her voice and said, "Yes that is the dream. The voice, Flame, said that it was a memory of another life…how is that possible?"

Pabbie looked at scene in the image and managed to pause it right as the mystic assassin was kneeling before the Queen and she was ready to banish him, "Another life huh? That must mean a past life…come, give me your hands again."

Anna gave her hands to him and suddenly once again heard Flame's voice, "**He reminds me of your teacher**."

"_Teacher?_"

"**Yes, you were not only a Queen you know. You were also a very powerful High Priestest**."

"_Actually I do not know…and right now unless you are going to give me answers, stay silent_." Anna responded. Then she felt Flame's presence disappear and she sighed as Pabbie looked at her, "Well what is it?"

"I do not know how I could have missed this before…" Pabbie muttered softly almost to himself.

"What?" Anna asked desperately, "What did you miss?"

Pabbie looked at Anna with a curious expression. He had known that Anna was a very special individual when he first met her all those years ago when she was five and then again at 18. Right now though he could sense a foreign yet real ancient magic and some sort of regal power radiating off of her. This regal power surpasses even the present Queen of Arendelle, and based on the memory he saw Anna was indeed a real powerful Queen in her past life. In fact this same power and magic is what he felt the first time she was here when they were inquiring about the curse, "Well it would seem that this voice, your spirit creature so to speak, was right…these are memories of a past life, your past life."

Anna was speechless at first, in fact so was Flame. Even though he had told her about these memories, it was just too…unbelievable, "So...I was really a Queen then?"

"My dear child," Pabbie said gently grasping her hands, "you are a Queen."

"Wait what?" Anna asked stunned, "You said this was in the past…like the past…a time long ago…Elsa is a Queen, I am just the spare."

Bulda and Cliff had remained silent and in awe throughout the conversation they were ease dropping on, however this almost made them shout in blind outrage. How could the 'Bringer of Summer' think so lowly of herself?

There was a furious growl inside her head that made Anna wince, "**Do not ever call yourself that again!**" Flame shouted at her.

"No, no my dear child you are more than a spare. The power you have now has reawakened itself it seems. How or why I do not know;" Pabbie said as he held up his hand before she could ask, "however you should be happy."

Anna could barely think about the implications as to what this could mean. Even Flame was silent. So taking a deep breath, she settled for, "So is there any way to get more memories?"

"Ah that I would not deem wise to mess with." Pabbie cautioned.

This stirred something within her and for once it was not due to Flame's feral influence, "Yet you felt the need to mess with a five year old's memories, and also traumatize an eight year old."

Pabbie again felt the regal and foreign power radiating off of Anna. Never had he felt intimidated by any royal that ever graced his presence, not even Elsa and she had the powers over ice and snow! Yet, here he was, sitting with the princess and he was intimated by the glare that Anna was giving him, "If I had not said it, I am truly sorry for that. It was not my intention to cause either of you nor your parents any harm. However I will say that at the time I thought it was for the best, and I had hoped that when you had gotten older, one of them would have told you about it…"

Anna listened to Pabbie's explanation and sighed trying to rein herself in a bit, "I am sorry. I did not mean to snap. But please, I want to…no, I need to know more. Please…" Anna trailed off.

Pabbie gave her a level look and sighed deeply. This was going against his better judgment, but what choice did he have? He then waved his hand and out of the ground a small well arose. Magically summoning a small vial, he muttered an incantation and the liquid inside the well turned blue, "You will need to drink this before sleeping," Pabbie instructed as he filled on of the vial up; once it was filled he corked the vial and gave it to her.

"What will happen to me?" Anna asked.

"Your physical body will experience a kind of deep, almost hypnotic, sleep." Pabbie began to explain, "However, your subconscious will be experiencing the memories that have been locked away."

Anna was silent as she mulled this over, "**Sounds like you will be re-living the past through your memories**." Flame spoke for the first time since the outburst as to what she called herself, "**Ask him about me? What will happen to me?**"

"What about Flame? My spirit wolf?" Anna asked unsure about that really was to call the wolf in her head.

Pabbie frowned a bit, "Well I suppose your spirit creature would re-experience the memories too since it is part of you…"

"But you are not sure…"

"No."

"Ok then," Anna said then asked, "well as far as the amulet goes then…do I still have to wear it when I take this potion?"

"**Yes!**" Flame shouted in her head.

"Yes you do, otherwise you risk losing control of both yourself and Flame." Pabbie answered quickly.

"Ok." Anna said standing back up, "That is about everything I guess. Although I am surprised that Kristoff, Elsa, Sven, and Olaf are not here yet…it is not like I left them that far behind me." She added looking around.

However there was a sudden feeling of uneasiness that came to her. She did not know how she knew, but there was something that was definitely amiss, "**They are in trouble your majesty**." Flame's grim voice came to her.

"I have to go." Anna said suddenly as she quickly made her way to Pharis, "Something is wrong."

"Be careful!" Pabbie warned, "There are dark times ahead."

"I will and thank you!" Anna called back as she mounted her horse and they sprinted off, allowing her instincts to guide them.

Elsa could not fathom how they had gotten into this treacherous situation. At first she was relaying the details as to what had been going on with Anna as Kristoff steered Sven towards the trolls, then the next thing they know Olaf was shouting something about wolves. When Kristoff and Elsa looked behind them, sure enough a pack of at least fifteen wolves were running after them, "Hang on!" Kristoff had shouted.

He frantically tried to steer Sven in ways to confuse them, while Elsa had tried to create snowballs, as Olaf started throwing them at the hunting pack, however the wolves were undeterred from their prey. Eventually one thing led to another resulting in their current predicament with being sleigh-less, and cornered like rats. Although, as Elsa thought about the events that led up to said moment, somehow these wolves were not exactly normal. They seemed too smart. The only thing keeping them away was Kristoff guarding one side with a flaming torch, and the ice wall she had made surrounding herself, Sven, and Olaf, "Ok I am all for ideas." Elsa stated as one wolf made the lunge and ended up crashing into the wall of ice.

Another wolf tried again to lunge at Kristoff, but he swiped the flame in its direction and immediately changed tactics and just managed to avoid being burned, "Yea I got nothing."

"Me neither." Olaf said holding on to Sven for dear life.

Before Elsa could think of anything else, there was a sound of pounding hooves that could be heard and their heads turned for the briefest of instants to see a grey blur running passed them and halting right in front of the pack, "Anna!" They exclaimed.

"What are you doing?! Run!" Elsa yelled frantically wondering why her sister was pulling such a stupid and suicidal stunt.

"No I know what I am doing!" Anna yelled jumping off of Pharis as the wolves turned their focus on their newest prey item. The horse reared back slightly and took off when Anna slapped him. However the wolves did not go chasing after the horse, their only focus was on the princess.

Once again these actions alone spoke many volumes to Elsa, who tried to concentrate on shielding Anna from the wolves, but only found that her magic was not working properly, "Elsa what are you doing?! Shield her!" Kristoff demanded as he too tried to get away, however a couple of the wolves had turned their focus on him and kept him cornered.

"I am trying!" Elsa snapped, "But my magic is not working!"

"Well it has been nice knowing everyone." Olaf stated glumly. Sven also leaned into the snowman as if saying the same thing.

Anna however saw none of this happening and looked up toward the sky while taking a few steps back as the few of the wolves started to creep closer to her, "_You sure this will work? It is still technically daylight._"

"**It might, however with this much daylight and you not having your full powers due to not having your full memory, I do not know**." Flame said slowly and cautiously. That is when Anna started to finger the amulet around her neck. Flame sensed what she was thinking about doing, "**No! No you cannot take that off. Our feral instincts have been contained too long. Remember what the troll said?**"

"_But what choice do we have?_" Anna countered, "_Besides if I recall correctly we managed to work together before_."

"**Yes when we did not have dark magic controlling either of us and you had your powers**."  
Flame pointed out.

Anna could see her sister's ice wall breaking as the wolves again decided to attack it. She also saw that Kristoff could not hold back the wolves on his side any longer. It was now or never, "_I trust you_." Anna thought to him as a new voice entered her memory, "_**Remember your majesty, in order to allow your magic to work, you have to ask yourself two important questions: why are you doing this and who are you protecting? Remember those questions and your magic will always be under your control**_."

Not questioning how those words came to her or belonged to, she just nodded to herself firmly as she made her decision, "_I trust you._" She said firmly again.

"**I will try not to break that trust your majesty**." Flame spoke.

Then in one swift move, Anna grasped the amulet around her neck firmly, tore it off, and tossed it to the side. Allowing the familiar sensation to fill her, she dodged the wolves that had her cornered and ran to the ones that were attacking the ice wall. She jumped and somehow did a summersault in the air just as red smoke this time surrounded her. When she landed and had slammed her body in the final wolf that was attacking the ice wall, she was no longer human, but a wild and furiously pissed off flaming red dire wolf.

Hidden away in the dark shadows of the woods, another creature made its move as it watched the dire wolf, the Snow Queen, the Ice Master, snowman, and reindeer were surrounded by the pack of wolves. Slithering silently on the ground, it used its forked tongue to locate the object that was thrown carelessly away. The only time the large black cobra stopped was when a howl rang out through the forest. The cobra stopped and allowed itself to assume an alert position and flared its hood thinking it had been spotted, only to see that the dire wolf was in the midst of a fight with the alpha of the pack. The snake lowered itself to the ground. This was to be expected, from the wolves. This was a fight for the prey, and since the dire wolf has an air of royalty to it, it was only natural for the alpha of the wild pack to fight for dominance. Bloody waste of time, if you ask the snake.

There was another growl and howl, but the snake paid no mind and continued its search until eventually the forked tongue found the amulet. It could sense the magic and the smell that accompanied it. Its snake like lips pulled into an evil like smirk, just as there was a yelp. Looking at the battle area, it watches as the pack of fifteen take off with their tails between their legs and the dire wolf collapsing on the ground. It new that the much larger and massive wolf won, however it looked like it used a lot of energy and was injured. However it did not care to stick around much longer, it had done its mission of hypnotizing the wolf pack to begin with and now it has the amulet. His master would be very pleased…looking at the amulet again it definitely knew that his master would very much be pleased…so pleased that he might finally get rid of that unbearable useless human once and for all.

Using its tail to grip the amulet, he takes a look one last time at the now three humans, snowman, and the reindeer. He could sense the fear and slight devastation in the air that surrounds them. However the snake does not dwell on this, because he knows that there is more to come. In a puff of black smoke, the snake and the amulet disappear.

In the cave, Hans and the assassin discuss the next course of action. They had seen the whole fight on the crystal ball, and now they were ready to implement the final piece of their plan. Hans however suggested to act immediately, however the assassin had said that waiting just a bit longer would prove to be more useful, just as the heated discussion was about to turn louder, there is a low hiss and Hans again jumps at the sight of the massive deadly black cobra, "Ok that thing really needs a bell or something."

The snake shoots a look at the prince and rears up to flare its hood, making Hans back further away, "Serpent wouldn't hurt anyone, unless I tell him too." The assassin adds as he strokes the snake with affection.

Hans shivers at the thought, but watches the snake with caution, "What's that in his tail?" He asks shakily when he sees the blood red gem.

The man in the black cloak grins so brightly that it could be seen underneath the hood, "This Hans," he takes the gem from the snake and the snake slithers over to the corner feeling triumphant, "is what Serpent's job was. This is Anna's amulet."

Hans grins at what this means, "She is not going to be in control anymore."

"No my friend…she is not." They go back over to the crystal ball and watch as the travelers try to make it back to Arendelle, "Look at the sky." The man points out.

Hans grin widens, "Almost sun set."

"Yes and know what that means?" The man asks.

Hans laughs, "No more Snow Queen or Ice Master." Sobering up he looks at his companion and slaps him on the back, "Nice job. Perhaps we will do it your way. What is a few more days of fun?"

The man watches as Hans walks back over to his side of the cave. The cobra shoots his master a look and lets out a disapproving hiss, "Yes I know." The man says softly to his friend as he again strokes the snake's head, "But it will not be for much longer. As he said, we are doing this my way, so you know what? I do not feel as guilty for what I am about to do."

Going over to a small chest he pulls out more ingredients, "I will not control her tonight…not just yet at least…I am going to have to a bit more…persuading of the mind first."

The snake looked up curiously and watched as the man grinded up different herds and added liquids, and then added more herbs, "The mind is a powerful thing my friend. Memories even more so. That troll may have given her something to reawaken memories that have been locked away, but I will give her something more…" He trailed off as he took his concoction over to the crystal ball, "I know that she is not going to use the potion tonight obviously, so why not just give her something else to consider?" As the image settled on Anna's face, he took a deep breath and blew some of the powder on to the ball, where it disappeared in its entirety, "Let the Storm Rage on your Majesty." The man stated and bowed deeply as he saw Anna collapse on top of the Snow Queen in the middle of the dense forest.


	10. Back To Square One

**Cursed **

**Chapter Nine: Back to Square One**

Kristoff did not know how this situation could have gotten any worse. The gods must have some sort of vendetta against them. Like this had to be some sort of punishment or sick joke or something! What could they have possibly done to deserve this?

First they were attacked by wolves (who did not act like normal wolves that Kristoff and Sven had ever experienced), then Anna comes out of nowhere and transforms to save them, however afterwards they cannot find her amulet, and now Anna had just collapsed. While that may seem like the tip of the iceberg it actually wasn't. He looks over to the horizon and sees that they have just about two hours left to get home and safely inside before she has no control over herself. He looks at Elsa, who is trying her hardest to wake the Princess up, but to no avail, "Please Anna, you have to wake up…"

He watches as Anna's face pinches together in what seemed to be concentration and hears her mutter out, "Mama…Papa…Christopher…Elizabeth…" Then her face changes into one of dream like state, "Alastair."

His heart clenches in agony as he hears the admiring sigh of love that had just came out his girlfriend's mouth; but then another thought came to him, just who the hell were these people that she was dreaming about? Shaking his head, he placed those thoughts aside for now, they had other things to worry about, like how to get home. The wolves had made him crash his sleigh and Sven could not possibly carry him, Elsa, Anna, and Olaf, so they were left with only one other choice: walking, "Anna please it's me…Elsa. You have to wake up."

Again Anna's face pinches together, except this time she looks annoyed with the tone to match, "Elizabeth go back to sleep…leave me and Alastair alone."

Elsa pulls away shocked, "Elsa?" She turns to look at Kristoff, who is slowly approaching her, "Can you make an ice sleigh or something?"

Elsa looked at the harvester and then at the sky. She does not know what to think about this. The way Anna had spoken that name and just the mannerism…reminded her painfully of…that night, "I do not know if I-"

"You made an ice castle, you made a living snowman," he pointed to Olaf who was over by Sven, "a snow golem, and you do not think you can make a simple sleigh?" Before Elsa could speak, Kristoff continued, "Look if we do not get back to Arendelle soon there is no telling what could happen. Anna does not have the amulet and she may not only come after us, but attack the city as well."

Elsa was already at a loss for words, but knew that Kristoff was right. There was no telling what Anna could do, especially since it was a few hours before sundown, "Ok take her." Kristoff knelt down and cradled Anna's head in his lap just like Elsa had done, "Alastair…" Again just another stab to his heart. Just who the hell was this Alastair person?!

Elsa looked back at Kristoff and her unconscious sister. She could see the heartbroken look on his face as Anna muttered out some other man's name. Regaining her focus she closed her eyes. In all honesty, she still to this day had not the slightest inkling how she made her ice palace, Olaf, or Marshmallow. All those things had been on instinct, and since then she had no need to create more items. But she pictured the sleigh and waved her hands, "Wow." She heard Olaf gasp and opening her eyes, before her was almost the same sleigh that Kristoff had before (cup holders and all).

Touching its frosty surface, they watched as the frosty look vanished and it turned to ice, "Will this due for now until I get you a new sleigh?" She asked Kristoff.

"Oh please," Kristoff spoke momentarily forgetting the situation they were in, "I can live with this."

Sven nodded with his tongue hanging out as he bounded over to the sleigh to be strapped in, "Ok let's go!" Olaf yelled happily as he hopped in the sleigh. Elsa too had gotten in and then Kristoff had laid a semi unconscious Anna in her lap. After he got Sven settled, he told his friend to move. It was then that it became a race against time.

The ride back to Arendelle took about an hour. No one questioned them as they rode through the gates. Kristoff grabbed Anna and together they raced towards the Princess's room. Once they entered, Elsa slammed the door shut. Before she, Kristoff, and Olaf could speak there was a sudden knock. Elsa opened the door slightly to see Kai standing there, "We need to talk your majesty."

"Can it wait?" Elsa asked.

Kai sighed and gave her a satchel, "I got this from the Princess's horse. Yours is in your room. I will also have Gerda bring up a tray of food for you as well."

"Thank you." Elsa said sincerely looking at the faithful head of house, "What is it?" Elsa asked as Kai was still giving her a solemn look.

"People were asking questions your majesty. When your horse came back, people were almost panicking. But I had managed to calm them down, however when the Princess's horse came back, that almost sent them over the edge." Kai stated giving her a slight disapproving look.

"I am sorry Kai, but I thank you for keeping the peace." Elsa said.

Kai nodded and looked over to Anna and Kristoff, "Is she ok?"

Elsa looked back over, "She will be I hope." They turned and looked at each other, "Is that all?"

"Yes your majesty. I will get Gerda on your dinners." Kai said bowing and then he walked away.

Elsa slowly shut the door and turned back to Kristoff, Olaf, and Anna, "Is she still talking?" Elsa asked as she slowly approached the bed.

"No, she has been mainly quiet." Kristoff answered softly.

Olaf looked worriedly at his friends, then at Anna whose eyelids were starting to flutter, "Hey guys I think she is waking up."

Sure enough when Elsa and Kristoff looked back at Anna, she had managed to open her eyes and wince as she tried to sit up, "Here let me help." Kristoff offered.

"Thanks," Anna smiled as he helped her sit up better by propping her pillows up a bit. Elsa sighed deeply and sat down next to her as there was another knock on the door, to which Kristoff went and answered it and came back with a large tray with three plates on it and glasses with drinks, "Oh thank gods its food." Anna muttered as she smelled the meal.

"You just wake up after passing out, which occurred after you fended off a pack of wolves, and all you think about is food? Really Anna?" Elsa asked amused, but really thankful that Anna was even awake.

Anna smiled, "Well you just named all the reasons why I am hungry then." However she frowned as she recalled what Elsa had said after she was served her plate and drink, "I passed out?" She asked.

Kristoff and Elsa paused in their eating and looked at each other, but it was Olaf who answered, "Yea. We were walking back to the castle after we gave up looking for the amulet. We were all talking and everything about we were going to do for tonight, and you seemed fine, but after a few minutes of walking, you just collapsed."

Anna frowned, "You do not remember that?" Kristoff asked quietly.

"No I do. I remember the fight and I remember us trying to look for the amulet. I remember the walking part, but then I heard a voice and…" Anna trailed off as she stared at the wall behind Elsa's head, "then nothing…I know something happened, but I do not remember what."

Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf shared another look. How were they going to tell her about her sleep talking experience? Kristoff motioned to Elsa who sighed deeply, "You were sleep talking." Elsa muttered out.

Anna looked at her sister, "I was?"

"Yes you were." Elsa stated in a confirmation type tone, much like she would use with a foreign dignitary.

Sensing the tension in the air, Kristoff got up after he finished what was on his plate, "I am going to head out for the night and take care of Sven. Want to come Olaf?"

"Sure." Olaf said getting up as well.

"You guys are not going to stay?" Anna asked worried. What could she possibly have said in her comatose state of mind?

Elsa and Kristoff again exchanged looks, "Well Elsa and I had discussed that at least for now for your change that one of us should be with you…if you wanted it."

"Oh I see." Anna said although she was slightly disappointed. While she would rather not have anyone with her, she was kind of hoping that they would stay considering she trusts Flame not to hurt them, "**I am glad I have your trust, but it is perhaps the best. Who knows? Too many people might be considered a threat in my feral mind.**"

"_That is true…but do you know what they are talking about that I talked while I was unconscious?_"

"**Do you remember anything?**"

"_Kind of…_"

"Anna?" Elsa called seeing that Anna got real silent and she could see the flashing colors in her sister's eyes.

"Oh sorry, but yea that is fine. Flame agrees and I probably wouldn't want anyone near me anyway." Anna said smiling to show that she was not upset with Kristoff.

Kristoff nodded and kissed Anna deeply, trying to convey all his emotion to her, "Good night." He whispered as he pulled away from her.

"Night." She whispered out and he and Olaf left the sisters in the room.

Elsa looks at her sister and then out the window. The sun was sitting just above the horizon and the grandfather clocks in the halls chimed the half hour mark making it six-thirty. She figured she had half an hour left, "So you do not remember your dream?"

"I kind of do, but it was weird." Anna said slowly as she looked at her older sister as if she was seeing her for the first time, "What did I say while I was out?"

"It was more of what you didn't say…" Elsa trailed off. Seeing that this was not the answer her sister wanted, Elsa continued, "You called out for Mama and Papa once."

Anna frowned deeply as an image appeared in her mind. It was not **her** mother and father that she saw, but her **past's** mother and father. The memory itself was rather blurry, but she vaguely knew why she called out for them, "Ok." Anna managed to say as she composed herself, "You make it sound like I talked a bit more."

"Then there was this Christopher that you mentioned, and an Elizabeth." Elsa said slowly gauging her sister's reaction.

Anna tried to keep her composure. In fact it was taking all she had and then some not to break down, "**Christopher is your lover in this life, the harvester. He was the captain of your guard in your other life. Elizabeth was your younger cousin by four years. However you two grew up as sisters due to a terrible accident to her parents, which could be why in this life she is your-**"

"_Sister_." Anna finished in her mind solemnly as the memories of her and Elizabeth came flooding to her. Out loud she asked, "Anything else?"

As Elsa was cleaning up the plates and cups to place them back outside the door, she noticed the thick and raw emotion that her sister's voice took on. She also noticed how Anna was trying desperately to avoid eye contact, but she did not push and chose to answer instead, "Alastair. The way you said this name was like he meant something to you…almost like how Kristoff means to you…" Elsa did not need to say anything more as she watched Anna tense up and go slightly pale.

This name was definitely one that Anna remembered clear as day. This name held so many feelings for her, it was a wonder that this was locked somewhere deep within the chasms of her mind and soul for so long, "**It was for a good reason. He was your-**"

"_Lover. My betrothed…fiancée…however you want to dice it that is who he is to me_."

Anna tried to get up, but Elsa pushed her down, "You are hiding something. I want to know what the hell was going through your mind that caused all of this. I am tired of the secrets."

Anna met Elsa's glare, "So I keep a few things secret and all of a sudden it is the end of the world? Is that it? How about the ones you kept hidden for thirteen years? What happened then?" Anna mocked thought, "Oh yea you froze Arendelle and struck my heart."

Elsa felt like she had been slapped in the face and all she could do was stare at her sister with her mouth hanging open as the room temperature dropped a good ten to fifteen degrees. However instead of apologizing, Anna used this to get up and went to her closet and quickly pulled out a loose riding shirt and her old riding trousers. Elsa finally managed to recover and grabbed hold of her arm, "That was uncalled for." Elsa spoke firmly and gave Anna a sever look, "And you know it."

"Let go of me." Anna spoke just as firmly.

Elsa saw Anna's eyes flash yellow, but held her ground, "Not until you tell me what the hell is going on with you. I know this is bigger than your curse, so tell me." Seeing Anna's gaze not faltering, Elsa allowed herself to calm down and pleaded, "Please Anna…I hate seeing you like this. It's like you're are not even my sister anymore."

This made Anna flinch. She had a point and Anna knew it. Hell she did not even know who she was anymore. Was she the happy go-lucky Princess Anna of Arendelle? Or was she something more? Was she this supposed Highest Queen Reagent of some kingdom that she barely had any recollection of? Anna looked away, "How can I answer that when I do not even know?" She muttered out as she grabbed her sister's hand and pried it off of her arm.

Elsa did not even try to fight this time as she took in her sister's defeated look. She was not liking this one bit. Whatever occurred really had pushed her sister over the edge. She did not like feeling helpless. Hell she spent thirteen years being helpless and she refused to go back to that, "Anna whatever is happening we can work through it together. Do not push me away…"

Anna had to bite back a retort. Something stirred within her and wanted to spit out everything that she was feeling. She was pushing her away?! How about all the times that Elsa had pushed her away? How about when their parents died and she begged Elsa to come out of that damned room?! However those angry feelings halted, "**No! Control those thoughts…those urges otherwise you will say or do something you will regret.**"

"_I am sorry, but I do not know where all that came from_."

"**The sun is setting. If you are going to use that cell, we better get down there. I do not want to use those feelings against you or your cousin**."

"_Sister_."

"**That is going to take some getting used to.**"

Anna shook her head in amusement and sadness, but then she looked at Elsa, "You have to let me go."

"No!" Elsa said as she tried to grab Anna's arm again.

Anna was faster though and dodged her sister. She was by the door and opened it, 'The sun is setting and I have to get out of here."

"And where would you go?"Elsa demanded as she crossed her arms. There was no way she was letting Anna get away so easily.

Anna sighed. She was hoping to avoid this, but as per usual things never seemed to go her way, "The dungeons." She eventually muttered out.

"Excuse me?"

"Look we do not have time for this." Anna stated more firmly as she grabbed her robe as well in her arms along with the shirt and trousers. She flung the door open and sprinted down the hall.

"Anna!" Elsa yelled and immediately followed her sister.

By the time Elsa got down to the dungeons, there were no guards in sight. In fact she had not passed a single guard as she had sprinted down the hall after her younger sister. When she arrived, a sick feeling washed over her as she was brought to the memory of her own imprisonment. Upon hearing the jingling of keys, she slowly approaches the cell at the far end of the dungeon, she swallows the lump in her throat. She knew that this was the same cell that she was imprisoned in, the same cell that her and her father created, and now apparently her sister decided to make it her own.

She had approached the open door just as Anna put a shiny metal collar around her neck, "What the hell are you doing?!" Elsa demanded.

Anna jumped and spun to see her sister standing in the door way, "Elsa get out of here! You shouldn't be down here!"

"And neither should you!"

"Elsa please it is safer. Just leave and lock the door. Under no circumstances come in and break me out." Anna ordered desperately, begging her sister to listen.

Elsa glared. She did not care that it was safer for her. She did not care that Anna did not have the amulet. She did care however that her sister was on the same destructive path that she was on once upon a time. Steeling her resolve she turned and slammed the door shut, although she was careful to make sure that they could both get out in the morning, "No."

"_What the hell is she doing?!_" Anna thought frantically as she turned to the window. She had about five minutes before the change to get Elsa to leave.

"**Glad to see the stubbornness never left her, but I would work on getting her out**." Flame responded.

"Elsa please get out! I do not have the amulet!"

"I know," Elsa said taking a seat on the floor, "I do not care."

"You are infuriating!"

"Pot meet kettle." Elsa stated crossing her arms, "You refused to leave me in my ice palace, so I refuse to leave you."

"Ok but let's remind ourselves as to the consequences of my actions at said ice palace." Anna stated.

Elsa shook her head, "No. No need to remind me. I am here to stay and there is nothing you can do about-" Suddenly there was a gasp and Elsa suddenly looks at her sister, who instead of the normal change she had become accustomed to, was being engulfed in red smoke, "ANNA!" Elsa exclaimed jumping up and a sudden force was holding her back.

She tried to fight against the force to reach her sister, however the red smoke vanished and there in front of her was the flaming red dire wolf that had saved her, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven in the forest just a few hours previously. She searched for any recognition in the wolf's eyes, but all she saw was yellow, "Anna?"

The wolf huffed and looked behind it, Elsa followed its gaze and saw that connected to the collar was a very short steel like chain that was bolted to a stone wall. The wolf then regarded Elsa with a calculating look. A look that Elsa recognized, "Anna are you in there? Please give me a sign." She said in a begging but quiet voice.

The wolf however shook its head and Elsa felt deflated, but then she realized, "Wait you are Flame aren't you? Anna mentioned you in passing…you wanted to kill me and Kristoff."

She saw a flicker of pain wash over the wolf's features and it laid down on its stomach, "So you are not trying to hurt me? What changed?" She was suspicious, she did not want to risk getting any closer, but she did not want to take heed in her sister's words and leave either. She meant what she said, she was not going to leave Anna alone in this.

The wolf sat up on its hunches and stared at the floor, as if willing to give it some sort of answer; Elsa could almost see different emotions in it's predominate yellow eyes: sadness, desperation, stubbornness, and then resting on determination. Along with the emotions, there was also some flashes of blue mixed in as well. It then regarded her with a look and stood up and gave out a small, but yet powerful, bark and tried to circle, but was stopped by the chain. So turning back to face her, it bowed deeply to her.

Elsa looked at the creature warily, "I am sorry but I don't-" The wolf huffed, stood up from its position, sat back on its hunches, and lifted a paw towards her. Now she understood, "Oh. I get it now."

With caution, Elsa stepped forward and easily shook 'hands' with the wolf, "Well Flame it is nice to meet you."

The wolf gave her what seemed to be a secret smile. Almost as if it knew something she did not. The wolf inclined its head towards her. Seeing what it wanted, Elsa smiled gently and reached to pat the creatures head. As soon as her hand touched the soft fur, Elsa felt herself freeze up (A/N: no pun intended), and she and the wolf collapsed on the floor, seemingly unconscious.


	11. Famous Last Words

Ok so the way I am figuring this is the halfway point in this little story. I just wanted to give the people who are reviewing a little shout out: Taeniaea, spinopower, FrozenFan0509, MentalMarzipan, Guest, Amazing piano girl, Frozen, TheMuffinMan, and SonictheHedgehogwolf.

Once again you guys are amazing and the next few people that review for this story will get a sneak peak as to what is to come for our favorite characters. So read and please review!

**Cursed **

**Chapter Ten: Famous Last Words**

_**Now I know  
That I can't make you stay  
But where's your heart?  
But where's your heart?  
But where's your...**_

_**And I know**_  
_**There's nothing I can say**_  
_**To change that part**_  
_**To change that part**_  
_**To change...**_

**-My Chemical Romance 'Famous Last Words'**

Elsa opened her eyes to find herself no longer in the cell. Instead she found herself in an ancient looking stone hallway, "What the-?" She began to ask when all of a sudden she heard the opening of a door. Looking further down the hallway she saw a small fleck of light appearing out of a room on her left hand side.

Slowly getting up on her feet, she cautiously approached the source of the light, "Hello?" She called out and looked into the room. She gasped as she saw that it was covered in all sorts of toys that ranged from dolls to rocking horses. Elsa also noticed that the room looked really bright and cheerful. A feeling of nostalgia overcame her as she smiled, because this room brought back memories of a childhood long ago that it seemed like it was a complete different life time.

Elsa continued to look around the room and something caught her eye on the dresser. Without actually entering the room, she trained her focus. It was a small portrait of two really young girls, one was about eight years old with platinum blonde hair and the other was about five years old with strawberry blonde hair. The girls looked happy and so carefree that Elsa felt jealously rising in her at these girls until she looked more closely at the slight offending object and recognized them as herself and Anna from childhood.

"What is this place?" Elsa asked out loud to no one in particular as she realized that she was the only person in this strange, and seemingly unforgiving hallway.

Although as an answer, she felt a cold wind coming right behind her. She turned letting a shiver run down her spine as she felt an ominous presence leaking out of other massive metal door. Taking a step away from the innocent room, she took a step towards the ominous door. It appeared to be made of a dark and ancient looking metal with bolts all around it. Right smack in the middle though was a depiction of an eye…the Eye of Anubis, Elsa realized recalling the history lessons she had about different ancient cultures around the world. She looked back to the innocent, happy, and pure looking room, then she looked back at this door that felt dark, ominous, and slightly wicked. Taking a deep breath, she made a move to reach for the handle when a voice stopped her, "I would not do that if I were you."

Elsa turned to see the wolf, Flame, standing before her, "Flame?"

The wolf's mouth did not move as it responded, "Yes it is I. I am your…sister's spirit creature that sadly we have been imprisoned in this dark curse."

The voice had echoed off the stone walls and the tone sounded forlorn. Elsa's heart went out to the creature. Any animosity and wariness she felt for the creature was gone, however she had to ask, "Where am I?"

Flame allowed a smile and answered, "You must forgive me Eliz-sorry Queen Elsa. I have brought you here. You are inside your cous-sister's mind."

Elsa looked around her again. Her eyes roamed around the hallway, the innocent looking room, and the dark door, "How is this Anna's mind?" It did not escape her that the wolf curved its language and was speaking carefully, "How did you do this?"

The wolf got a small gleam in its eyes, "It really is Anna's mind I am afraid. It was one of her many talents, I guess you could say, once upon a time. I just…Anna and I…just managed to use it again."

"But-"

"I brought you here by using the power to unlock the doors of a person's soul. These rooms," The wolf sat on its hunches and motioned to the doors with one of its paws, "are the Rooms of the Soul." Elsa nodded along as the wolf explained as she again looked between the open room and the closed door, "With this ability I…rather she… can observe the thoughts of people, and the room can be redecorated to alter the person's personality."

"So she could brainwash people?" Elsa asked perplexed not knowing where this conversation was headed.

"That or manipulate and destroy the personality." The wolf said offhandedly as if it was no big deal, "And she can force images, scenes, or visions into the minds of others…"

Elsa's jaw dropped. This was all too much, "That makes it sound like a lot of power she has…"

"This is only one layer on a multi-layer cake," the wolf mumbled out, although Elsa was not sure that she was supposed to hear the response.

"So then wait…how are you communicating with me? I mean you are an animal…"

"Did I not mention the telepathic ability?"

"No."

"Well I just did then. Telepathy, although I brought you here to…explain some things to you." Flame said grimly as the wolf stood up and regarded the young queen with a serious look.

Elsa swallowed a lump that was forming in her throat. Judging by Flame's stance and the tone of voice the wolf used, it was not pleasant, "Explain what exactly?"

"There are is a darkness that has been in the making for over a millennium," Flame began, "and it is coming."

"What are you talking about? What darkness?"

Flame did not answer the question, however chose to go on, "Queen Anna is the only one that can stop it, as she has already stopped it once."

Elsa was feeling weak at the knees, "Anna is not a Queen. What do you mean she already stopped it once? What did she stop?!"

"I cannot divulge anymore, while she is getting her memories back from the Golden Age there will be a hard road ahead of her which will put a strain on your relationship." Flame said sadly.

Before Elsa could speak the metal door opened and both their heads turned toward it. Coming out of it was someone that Elsa would recognize anywhere, however someone completely different, "Anna?"

The Anna that was approaching them was indeed her sister, yet it was not her sister. This Anna was wearing a black, long floor length, sequined, sleeveless dress that's side was split up to her hip on the right hand side. The bodice of the dress, Elsa noticed, has a deep v-neckline and as Anna stepped in front of her to face Flame, she noticed the cross back detail. Overall the dress made this Anna look more mature and a goddess.

"You have already divulged too much Flame. How do you expect me to answer her questions later if I do not even know the answers yet?" Anna asked in a calm and regal tone that Elsa did not even know she possessed.

Flame bowed deeply to her, "I apologize, but I thought you wanted me to give as much detail as I could, however still be as vague as possible."

"I suppose I did say that." Anna sighed out and she faced her sister, "Hello."

Elsa could not speak. It was in this moment that Elsa decided that this was not her Anna, at least not physically her younger kid sister. Taking in the overall facial features, this Anna appeared older, and held herself in a position of high power…more power than Elsa could even have thought possible. In fact that is all that seemed to radiate off the woman in front of her was a deep and powerful energy. The only thing that seemed the same to Elsa was the deep pools of blue in the woman's eyes that shone love, loyalty, and happiness that she had grown accustomed to see. However Elsa noticed some sadness, pain, and overall regret as well, "I apologize for this. I talked Flame into doing this once I realized that you were not leaving me alone in that cell." Anna began talking again.

The tone that Anna was using through Elsa once more. It was a tone that matched too much formality she had heard multiple times over. It was one that did not apply to family and friends, rather it was a tone used to talk to other dignitaries, and one that Elsa never imagined Anna capable of having, much less be talking to her like she was just some sort of other foreign dignitary. Seeing that Anna was waiting for a response, Elsa shook herself and said, "Uhm I am afraid I am still confused."

Anna gave Elsa a patient smile…a smile that one would use on a younger sibling when explaining something, "Yes I imagine you would be." Anna frowned deeply and looked to the innocent room that was still alight with the toys still scattered and the small portrait on the dresser, "Such simpler times. Wouldn't you agree?" She motioned to the open door.

Elsa looked to where her sister was looking and motioning. She then tried to catch Flame's eye, however the wolf was gone, "Hey, where did Flame go?"

Anna smiled lightly, "It must be sun rise already. Time flies when you are visiting and having a conversation with a soul." The smile left her face and gain a more curious look, "However you did not answer my question."

Elsa looked at Anna, then back at the door, and then back at her seemingly older sister and said, "Yes it was simpler times…but it can be simple again."

Anna laughed bitterly and Elsa did not like it, "And you say I am naïve sometimes." Seeing Elsa's look, Anna continued more sorrowfully, "That is what I had said at you coronation and at your ice palace…remember?"

Elsa winced as she did indeed remember the pivotal turning points in their lives, how she had blatantly denied Anna of her wishful thinking. However hearing that coming from her own happy, carefree, and hopeful sister astounded her, "Anna what are you-?"

"You will find out soon. As soon as I know what exactly is happening, then you will know. Just remember Flame's warning. The road will be harsh and place a major strain on our relationship." Still seeing Elsa's look, Anna sighed, "I would have told you myself, but-"

"But what?"

"You may not have taken me seriously." Anna winked at her and Elsa found herself looking at her sister once more.

Just then the hallway started fading and Elsa felt a jolt in her stomach, "Anna what is happening?!"

"I am releasing you. Good bye cousin." Before Elsa could ask about the change in relationship title; the hallway, the rooms, and her seemingly older sister vanished and her vision once again went black.

Anna woke up to find herself on the damp cold stone floor. Groaning she sat up and reached for the trousers and shirt she had brought down with her and changed into them, "My head hurts." She mumbled out loud as she rubbed her head.

"**It will get easier,**" Flame spoke to her, "**once you have your full memories and control over your powers once again**."

Just then she heard another groan and was startled to see her sister also lying on her stomach in much of the same position she was in, "_So that really happened?! I sent my sister into my soul rooms?!_" Anna yelled in her mind.

"**Yes…that is what we said we would do. Do you not remember the conversation you had with her?**" Flame asked curiously.

Anna had reached over and touched her sister's hand and suddenly she felt a jerk in her stomach and suddenly the conversation came flooding back to her. Accompanying the vision she felt a warm feeling wash over her. Closing her eyes she allowed the warmth to spread through her body and the only sound in the room was the clanging of the collar as it hit the ground. Anna looked at it startled, "_What was that_?"

"**That is your powers coming back to you**."

Before Anna could ask another question she heard her sister's voice, "Anna?" Elsa's eyes fluttered open as she sat up and her eyes found her sister's eyes. Elsa gasped at the sight, now this girl…no this woman was her sister! This was her Anna, not the woman that she had seen in her dream, however she had to be sure, "Is…" Elsa stood up, followed by Anna. Elsa placed her shaking hands on Anna's shoulders and looked deeply into her sister's eyes for any sign of deceit, "Is it really you?"

Anna was looking just as deeply into her sister's eyes. She knew that yes, she was the sister that Elsa knew her to be, however she knew that she was also not the same…gods this was so screwed up! However seeing that Elsa was desperately waiting for an answer, Anna gave her one, "Yes."

Elsa smiled and initiated the hug, which Anna returned, "Thank gods! That dream…oh that dream…I saw you, I talked to Flame, I talked to you…but it was not you Anna…it was not you…"

"**Are you going to tell her?**" Flame asked mournfully.

Anna kept muttering reassuring words to her sister, however Elsa did not sense the half-heartedness to them, "_No. Not now. I will not break her right now_." She responded to him.

They had pulled away and Elsa opened the door, arm and arm they walked down the hall and Elsa continued to tell her about the strange dream, but Anna and Flame knew otherwise. When they stopped in front of Anna's room, she remembered her satchel and potion, "Hey where is my satchel from last night?" Anna asked as they dropped their arms to their sides.

"I placed it on your dresser. Kai had dropped it off after we came home." Elsa explained. She looked at her sister and a sudden shadow of an unknown emotion flashed across her sister's eyes.

The sudden elevated mood that she had vanished and a new one took its place as Anna said, "Good. That is great…thank you."

"We never did finish that conversation last night." Elsa said softly resisting the urge to grab her sister's hand. Her sister was drifting again, that much she felt as a familiar feeling was radiating off of her sister. This moment was crucial. Elsa did not know why, but she felt if she let her sister enter that room…step through that threshold and closed that door, she would never see her sister again.

Anna wanted to speak, but an inner voice different from Flame's told her to keep quiet. So she feigned a yawn and stretched, "I know, but right now I am a bit tired. I do not know why, but last night's change was…brutal."

"I suppose it would be considering you went through it twice in one day." Elsa said trying to delay this moment, "Did you want breakfast first and then sleep?" Please, Elsa thought to herself, please Anna do not leave me…

"Actually I am tired. I am going to take a nap." Anna said as she laid a hand on the handle, "But I'll see you at lunch?"

No! Elsa thought to herself, but out loud, "Ok see you then." She started to walk down the hall, however she stopped and turned to see Anna watching her.

**Can you see  
My eyes are shining bright  
'Cause I'm out here  
On the other side  
Of a jet black hotel mirror  
And I'm so weak  
Is it hard understanding  
I'm incomplete  
A love that's so demanding  
I get weak **

Elsa again saw something within her sister's eyes that she did not like. She also did not like the feeling of hopelessness that overcame her as she watched her sister give a smile…it was not a signature 'Anna' smile. This smile represented the Anna from her nightmare the previous night, "_**Just remember Flame's warning. The road will be harsh and place a major strain on our relationship**_." That voice, so mature, yet so grave. She felt herself release a bit of her magic and a light frost started to cover the walls.

She saw Anna nod sadly at her and opened the door. No, Elsa wanted to say but her mouth would not open. The words would not come out. She wanted to move to her sister's door and tackle Anna, but her legs would not move either. Please Anna, Elsa begged into her mind hoping her face would reveal the turmoil that was raging inside of her. How there was not another Great Freeze occurring was beyond her. Please do not go into that room. Please…

Anna was watching her sister closely. She regretted doing it, but she knew that if she allowed Elsa to speak or allowed her to come and hug her, then Anna's resolve would have been broken. She had summoned up a bit more energy and used her newly awakened powers to send a mental order to her sister not to speak, move, or summon a snow storm. Although she must not be at full capacity because light frost started to cover the walls. She needed to do this and hoped that Elsa would one day understand. I am sorry Elsa, Anna thought hoping that Elsa could see the look she was sending her sister. She was sure that if she was staring in a mirror, this look would have been the same look she had sent Kristoff when she was freezing on the fjord. Sending one last look at her sister, she walked through the threshold of the door to enter the room. Once there, she closed the door and said a mental good bye to her life…her best friend…her sister.

**I am not afraid to keep on living  
I am not afraid to walk this world alone  
Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven  
Nothing you can say can stop me going home**


	12. The Final Masquerade

Sorry for the delay, but I have been really busy. However with the long car ride I am on and with my homework being done I get time to write this chapter. I also wanted to let you all know that there are about two more chapters left in this story. I have them all pretty much outlined and I know what I want to happen; that being said I may make a sequel to this story or have this and my previous story (**Phantom Agony**) be tied together somehow. If you are reading this story (or if anyone is reading this story) and you have not read my previous Frozen story, I suggest you read Phantom Agony and let me know what you think of the idea.

So with that taken care of, I proudly present the third to last chapter!

**Cursed **

**Chapter Eleven: The Final Masquerade**

_**Light on the horizon was brighter yesterday,  
Shadows floating over, scars began to fade.  
We said it was forever but then it slipped away,  
Standing at the end of the final masquerade.**___

-Linkin Park 'The Final Masquerade'

Elsa stared into space with her elbows up on the desk and her chin resting on her folded hands. After relieving the head of the scouting party for the rest of the day, she had gone to the library to find books about ancient cultures. There were four open books on her desk that she had originally thought were promising. However now she was so lost in thought that she did not hear the knock on her study door, or the opening of her door, and the sound of it re-shutting. Kristoff walked in hesitantly as he took in the queen's troubled appearance. Silently sighing to himself, he sat down in the chair right across from her, "Elsa?" He called softly not wanting to startle her, but he did not need to worry because she was not startled or even phased.

"I do not understand." She muttered out eventually in response.

"Sorry?" Kristoff asked.

"I do not understand…" Elsa repeated. She changed her position to release her hands and picked up one of the books and began to flick through it, "There is absolutely nothing in these about a kingdom called the Golden Age…"

Kristoff cocked his head to the side and picked up one of the books and also began to page randomly through it, "The what?"

Elsa sighed and told him of her dream as she picked up a different book and started to page through it again. When she was finished, he sighed again and placed his book down and told her where he was last night, "I went back to my family to get some information. Pabbie wouldn't tell me anything and told me to stay out of whatever is going on with Anna. However when I was about to leave, Bulba and Cliff gave me the answers as best as they could." Kristoff bit his lip and sighed out of his nose, "Anna got some kind of memory retrieval potion."

"Excuse me?" Elsa asked shocked as the book she was reading slipped from her grasp and landed with a 'thud' on her desk. Of course there was nothing that she had to worry about since she had explained why they were separated for those thirteen god awful years and Anna had forgiven her and their parents…of course the forgiveness part came after she had ranted and raved about being lied to; which had Elsa promising herself to never get Anna severely pissed off ever again.

Kristoff nodded, "Yea they said that she was trying to remember a past life or something like that…"

"Past life?" Elsa questioned more to herself than anything else. However she saw Kristoff nod his head anyway and he proceeded to tell her exactly what Cliff and Bulba overheard. The more Elsa listened, the more she did not like where this was headed. In fact a cold (not of her own powers) feeling washed over her as the dream she had the previous night came to mind. She had already started believing that what she had was not a dream (hence her extensive research on this particular kingdom was about), but what Kristoff had explained really confirmed her beliefs. The warning she was given by the spirit wolf and Anna's soul (or whatever or whoever that being was supposed to be) was indeed true. There was more that was going on, and Anna knows the answers.

When Kristoff was finished talking, Elsa stood up sharply, "We got to get to Anna. Now." As Elsa threw her door open the clock in her study chimed noon. A sick feeling wedged itself into the Queen's stomach. She had left Anna at around seven in the morning, which she knew that they might already be too late, however she prayed that they were not too late anyway. She prayed that Anna did not drink that potion, because if she did: Elsa knew she would lose her sister for good. Without arguing, or even asking what was wrong, Kristoff followed the Queen out the door.

By the time they had gotten to the Princess's bedroom Anna was already emerging and Elsa, for the first time in forever, felt wary approaching her sister. She and Kristoff stopped a few feet away as the strawberry blonde calmly closed her bedroom door. She slowly faced them and approached the duo, "Hey." Anna greeted as she walked up to them just as calmly while giving them a gentle smile which was uncharacteristic of her normal behavior.

They stood there for a few moments, as if trying to get a read on each other. Kristoff noticed Elsa and Anna sharing a look with one another and he took this moment to take in this 'new' Anna. He saw that she was keeping her composure and he noticed that she not once tried to reach out and hug the daylights out of himself or Elsa.

"Hi." Kristoff answered for both himself and for Elsa after a moment or two, "How was your night?" He asked after a few more of these tense moments.

Anna shrugged not breaking her gaze with Elsa, "Not too bad actually. No violent outbursts or anything…in fact I may have a solution to all our problems."

Elsa was looking deeply into her sister's blue eyes. Her sister was indeed still there, however there were also traits of that rather 'foreign' Anna from her dream, "Uhm…did you-?"

"Yes, I am sorry but yes I did." Anna interrupted knowing what Elsa was going to ask about. She had drank the potion that Grand Pabbie had given her. The memories that have been locked away were now forever engraved right where they belong, "But as I said I have the solution to all of our problems."

"What are you talking about Anna?" Kristoff asked as he saw that the Queen was rendered speechless.

Anna looked at him and he could see the almost hallow look in her blue eyes, "What problem would you like me to explain first? My supposed curse? Hans? Alastair?" The suggestions rolled off her tongue as if discussing the weather: casual and offhandedly.

"Who?" Elsa managed out as she had caught the tail end of Anna's list.

"The mystical assassin…" Anna looked away and Kristoff and Elsa picked up the sorrow look in her eye. Before they could comment, Anna turned back to face them, "Anyway take your pick, but I have a solution."

Anna started to stride past them and got a few feet of space before sensing another round of questions. She turned back to face Elsa, "Look just get your council and that Captain that is in charge of the search party together and have them meet in the council chambers in half an hour. I am going to get a quick bite to eat and get a few things." Elsa and Kristoff watched in a stun silence as Anna turned the corner looking every bit of a picture of sophisticated grace.

Half hour later they met in the council chamber's just as Anna requested. Sitting at the head of the table was Elsa, to the right was Anna, the rest of the seats were filled with Elsa's advisers, and as per Anna's request was Captain Malone. Kristoff, however, was made to wait outside since he was not a lord or an adviser. That did not stop him though from hovering outside the meeting room where he could still hear everything that was being spoken.

"Gentlemen thank you for coming in on short notice." Elsa said as she stood up to begin the meeting, "Now I have called you in here because my sister," Elsa motioned to Anna who was seated with her back straight and her eyes locked firmly on each of the men in the room, "thinks that she has a solution to our…problems." She looked at the young woman to her right and then at the men in the room. An uneasy feeling washed over her as she caught the steely look in Anna's eyes and the wary look in the men's. Taking a deep breath, Elsa continued, "So I ask you all to listen to her with open minds and hopefully we can take care of Hans and his…accomplice."

Anna stood up as Elsa sat down, "Before I begin I would like to hear about the search parties' efforts, so," facing Captain Malone Anna calmly requests, "tell us about the search for Hans and his accomplice."

Malone began to quickly tell Anna everything he had told the Queen. Of course Anna knew this, but she wanted to hear the information first hand from the good Captain. After he was done, Anna had rolled out the map of Arendelle that she had brought with her and took out a quill, "Place an X on the areas that you have searched."

Malone took the quill from her and did as he was asked. Nearly every 'X' was located in and around the city, only a few were marked over by the caves and the mountains. The room was silent as Anna gazed at the parchment. A feeling overcame her and she knew that was the dormant magic inside of her activating. She allowed it to flow through her a bit and suddenly a pull entered her instincts and her gaze was drawn to the mountain region. It was as if everything fell into place: she knew where they were hiding and knew how they had managed to evade the search parties, "How often did you search this area?" Anna asked the Captain pointing to the mountainous region.

"A few times, but it had gotten too hazardous for the search to continue."

Anna nodded along with the Captain. "Uhm if I may your highness," Anna looked up as one of the lords stood up, "but what does this have to do with your plan?"

Anna nodded and rolled the map up, "My plan has two parts." _Three actually but for all intense and purposes you only need to know two_, she thought to herself, "The first part is calling off the search."

This brought out a round of protests and a questioning gaze from Elsa, who was previously occupied with observing her sister, "Calling off the search?" Elsa spoke up which the whole room became silent once more as their Queen spoke, "Are you sure?" Secretly Elsa wanted to ask if her sister was crazy, but forced herself to keep some type of decorum.

"It is absolutely insane!" One lord shouted not having the same restraint before Anna could defend her idea, "I am sorry your highness, but that is an absolute terrible plan!"

Right then there was a swarm of outrage throughout the men in the room. Elsa tried to bring order back, but no one was listening to her as the noise got louder. Anna, who was still standing, in the meantime had closed her eyes and two memories flashed before her mind. Both memories were under extremely different circumstances, and yet they were similar in context as it was up to her to restore the order. Taking a deep breath she allowed her mind to clear, thankful that her voice was once again the only resident residing in its depths.

Elsa felt a weird energy radiating next to her. Turning she watches as her younger sister places gentle hand on her shoulder. Elsa finds herself looking deeply into Anna's eyes and what she sees really unnerves her. The weird energy is definitely coming from Anna, Elsa realizes as she feels herself being pushed back into her chair. The men had yet to realize what is actually happening until Anna yells, "ENOUGH!"

The men are instantly silent and looks at the Princess who is wearing a look of disgust. Elsa is also surprised as Anna glared down each and every one of them, "You all disgust me right now. None of you seemed to have changed since the last time we saw each other have you? You all still see me as that same naïve fifteen year old princess! All you seem to do is argue like I am never enough! Remember when you were all arguing over the matters of the state after we had just found out the death of our parents?! Remember how you all came to me for the answers?!" Each men looked away in shame and embarrassment, "Well I finally have the answers and now you do not want to listen to a word I say?! Again you all disgust me!"

Kristoff was still listening outside the door and his mouth was hanging open. Never had he heard Anna speak in such a regal tone. Elsa was also trying her hardest not to allow her mouth to drop as she watches the men bow their heads in shame as Anna continued to speak and finally ending her tirade with, "Now if you are all done acting like children, perhaps we can actually get down to business."

The men were still silent after their severe scolding. It was Lord Blackwood that decided to speak first, "We apologize your highness. You just caught us off-guard. Surely you understand why…" He trailed off.

Anna sighed and nodded, "Yes I suppose I do, however if you all would be so kind to allow me to continue, you would see why I have made such a rather 'interesting' decision."

Lord Blackwood and the rest of the councilmen saw a gleam in the princess's eyes and they knew instantly that this princess before them was different than the one they had previously dealt with at the age of fifteen when the Queen refused to see anyone, "By all means." He said after sharing a look with his fellow lords.

"Thank you. Now the reason why I made the suggestion is for the second part." Anna explained looking into everyone's eyes, including her sister's wary gaze, "I want to have a masquerade ball…say at the end of the month. This way we can lead them into a trap."

No one spoke. There was no uproar, no protest, no nothing until realization dawned on the Captain, "I get it…that is brilliant."

"Wait I do not get it." Said Lord Freeman and all eyes turned to him, "You want to call off the search for the assassin and Prince Hans in order to have a ball? A masquerade ball, which involves people to come in dressed up in costume so no one knows who anyone is, just to set a trap? How would that work exactly?" His tone was genuinely curious and concerned as everyone caught the real meaning behind his question.

Anna nodded and she came out behind the chair and paced in front of them, "You call off the search and lead them into a false sense of security. Once word reaches them that there is to be a ball, a masquerade ball which you were so kind enough to give us a brief definition of, they will make their plan to infiltrate it. The guards will also be in presence and in costume and once Hans and the assassin come, we spring the trap by setting the guards on them."

"But how will we know who they are?" Lord Blackwood asks.

"Well," Anna did not want to get into this part because she knows that this will set everyone over the edge, "we know that Hans and the assassin want to kill myself, your Queen," she motioned to Elsa which made them all wince, "and Mr. Bjorgman-" Kristoff was listening at the door still and he shuddered, of course in the past Anna would playfully call him by his last name, however now in this case it was a bit nerve wracking to hear her use it with such formality that it made him sick. Shaking his head he heard the last part of her explanation which caused another uproar, this time though he heard Elsa put her two cents in. In fact it took all of his self-control not to barge into the room and give his opinion as well.

"Absolutely not!" Silence radiated now as the Queen was standing and giving her younger sister the most severe look they had ever seen on her face.

Ice and frost started to coat the walls behind the Queen. No one dared to try and calm her down. Anna however was calmly looking at her sister, "You know that this is the only way your majesty."

If Elsa wasn't so focused on trying to control her magic, she would have balked at Anna's formality with her. Shaking her head she said, "No we are not doing this! We are not going to use you as bait!"

"You wouldn't be using me. I volunteer myself." Anna faced away from Elsa and looked at the men who were desperately trying to remain out of the conversation for once, "Hear that? Let the record show that I volunteer myself as tribute!"

"No do not let that record show anything of the sort!" Elsa ordered in case anyone tried to record that on paper. Then facing her sister again she said, "I will not let you be bait for two mad men!"

"Elsa look at the facts! Open your eyes and see the truth! Stop letting yourself be blinded by your love and the feeling of wanting to protect me from every little thing!" Anna paused. She could see that the men in the room saw the truth, they would not let emotion get in the way, her being the Princess or not they could see that this was the only way, "I vote that Queen Elsa is not allowed a say in this matter regarding the plan to capture Prince Hans and his accomplice. Who seconds?"

"Wait what?!" Elsa demanded as she looked around the room as she was completely blindsided by the sudden call to vote. She could see that the men were just as stunned as she was, however she could also see them contemplating her sister's request, "No you cannot do-"

"I second the vote." Lord Blackwood spoke as he rose from his seat. The men in the room gasped, "I am sorry your majesty but Princess Anna is right. You are becoming too emotional to have a say in this matter. Anyone third it?"

Slowly Lord Freeman stood up, "Aye. I third the vote." Seeing the devastated look on the Queen's face he sighed, "I do not want anything to happen to her either," he motioned to Anna as he saw a flicker of betrayal cross the Queen's eyes, "but she made a valid point. If we want this nightmare to end, then we have to take drastic measures."

Anna looks into Elsa's eyes and sees the hurt, betrayal, and the devastation, "You know as well as I that he is not going to stop." Anna whispers softly, "He wants me Elsa…they both want me. Let me do this."

"Is this what you want?" Elsa asks just as softly.

_No_, Anna thinks to herself, _but it is no longer a matter of what I want anymore, it is a matter of what I __**need**__ to do_, "Yes."

Elsa relents, "All those against the plan?" As per the vote from before, Elsa did not raise her hand since she was not allowed to have a say; but no one raised their hand as a sick feeling came back to her, "all those that abstain?" she at least hoped for some abstention but once again that was not the case, "all those in favor of the plan?" Sure enough, much to her dismay they all raised their hands. Elsa tried to keep her composure. She could feel her powers slipping so she said as quickly as she could with retaining some type of formality, "Thank you for your vote. You are dismissed." Without saying another word, Elsa walked out of the room not seeing Anna's apologetic look.

Kristoff jumped when the door had suddenly open and Elsa nearly raced out. He looked inside and saw everyone's apologetic faces. He had heard the vote and guessed which one had the most majority. Anna spoke a few more words to the men and grabbed his arm as she too raced out of the room, "Come on."

"Shouldn't we just leave her be?" Kristoff asked as Anna started to sprint.

"No. She should not be alone, especially right now she should not be alone."

Kristoff sighed, "I am pretty sure she does not want to see you right now. In fact," he stopped short which caused Anna to stop as well. He spun her around to face him, "What the hell are you thinking?"

"Not this again." Anna bit out losing every ounce of her new found composure and refinement.

Kristoff grabbed her and pulled her so that she was against the wall and he was blocking her moves to escape, "Yes this again. How could you do that to her? She is pretty much your only family. You two technically only have each other and you are willing to throw that all away for what exactly?"

Anna glared at him, "You do not think I know that Kristoff? You think I do not know how this is killing her right now? You think that this is not killing _**me**_?"

He shivered under her gaze. There was definitely something going on, because even when she was angry at him, she never once gave off that intimidating royal air that she seemed to be giving off now. However he needed to say this to her, "I do not know Anna, you seem to never let on how you are feeling anymore. I mean it is like you are taking a leaf out of Elsa's old book lately."

"Which is what?"  
"That conceal, do not feel crap that you told me she pulled for all of thirteen years." He knew the way he said it hit a vital nerve with her.

Anna looked away and gently, but firmly, pushed him away from her. He did not make a move to stop her as she walked a few paces away from him, "I am doing it to protect her…to protect you. In fact…" She turned to look at him and suddenly he felt something in his gut, "I cannot do this anymore."

"Then don't." Kristoff said softly as he took a step forward, however as soon as he did she took a step back.

"No you do not get it…" She took a deep breath and said, "I cannot do _**this**_ anymore." She motioned between herself and him.

Now Kristoff may not have been around people all that long; nor had he been in any serious relationships (the only one being with Anna at least) however he knew a break-up when he saw one…but his mind went instantly blank. He could not even begin processing what she was saying, "Wha-what are you saying Anna?" He finally managed to stutter out.

Anna gave Kristoff a teary look, it was killing her to say this to him and by the gods she wished that she did not have to, but her conversation with Flame earlier after having to relive her memories, she knew it was for the best, "I am saying we are done Kristoff." She whispered softly to him, "It's done."

Those two words hit him hard and it hit him even harder when she gave him another tearful look and sprinted down the hall. Just numbly watching her retreating figure, his mind flashed to the fjord: _he was calling for her, and he had heard her calling for him through the blinding snow. Then she was in his sights as the chaos stopped all around them and he called out to her and was slipping to get to her. Suddenly there was a sound of a sword being pulled out of its sheath. She turns and sees something in the distance. She gives him that same tearful look, and he pauses…he knows that he has lost her_. That same loss grips his heart now as he leans against the wall for support, but he manages to slide down it anyway…for the first time in forever he feels alone…utterly and painfully alone.

In the meantime in another room, Anna grips her chest and slides down the wall. She was in the same position as Kristoff. She knows what she did was cruel, in fact if she were to admit it, it was a total Hans move…just without the rather insane scheme to usurp the throne or anything ridiculous like that, "**I do not know…what you are doing is quite ridiculous**."

"Thanks where the hell were you like an hour ago or so?" Anna demanded under her breath out loud.

"**Nowhere. Just dormant. You might want to try and be a bit nicer considering I am your only mentor right now.**" Flame replied back in a slight mocking tone.

"Where is Seto? Why has he not come to try and find me or us rather?" Anna asked quietly once again out loud.

"**I do not know, but we have to do this and soon. So for now I will help you since I am bound by duty. I will help you in any way I can**." Flame responded firmly, "**Now I need you to focus and try and summon your family's book**."

"How?"

"**Concentrate. Just try…**" Flame spoke softly.

Anna sighed and got up to look around. She had not even known what room she had entered, but now as she took in her surroundings, she found herself in the library. Going over to a small pedestal, she stood behind it. Smirking she remembered the multitude of lessons, both in her present and past life. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and allowed her hands to hover over the pedestal. Going through her memories as if going through a book, she saw different images and heard many different voices. Finally she settled on one voice in particular and the memory came into focus:

"_**Do you know what this is my dear**_**?" a man asked. There was a golden book in his hand and once again there was a pedestal in the memory. Anna felt like she was once again reliving it as she looked at the man…her father…the former King of the Golden Age.**

"_**Our book,**_**" she had whispered as she ran a hand over the seemingly delicate cover.**

"_**Yes, this book contains your history…our history. In it resides all of our secrets and is the essential key to your destiny.**_**"**

"_**My destiny?**_**"**

**The man gives a gentle smile, "**_**Yes, you my dear are destined for greatness. You will save us all one day.**_**" Then leaning closer he says, "**_**You were given a gift to which you will be trained so you know how to use it properly. With this book to guide you as well,**_**" he again motioned to it, "**_**you will do great things with your gift**_**."**

Anna snaps her eyes open and there in front of her is the same golden book that she had seen in her memory. Multiple feelings wash over her as she allowed a hand to gently go over the delicate cover, "I will do great things." She whispered out. Quickly grabbing the book in her hands, she exited the library.

Going down the hall, she pauses in front of a door. It was the door to her father's study, a door that had remained closed once news came of their demise on that fateful trip. Swallowing the large lump in her throat she approached it and place a hand on the knob. Looking around she slowly opened it and the musty smell wafted her senses. Entering the study she closed the door softly behind her and pressed her back against the door, still holding the gold book in her arms. Looking around, everything was where it was since the last time she had been in here. Closing her eyes, a different memory flashed before her eyes:

**Anna knocked on the door and heard a rather rough, "**_**Enter**_**." Sighing she knew that tone. It had meant that she was in trouble…again.**

**She opened the door and slowly closed it as she held one black leather bound book in her hand. Her father did not even look up at the sound, "**_**Have a seat Anna.**_**"**

**Anna sighed and approached the large desk and sat in the large chair. Even at the age of fifteen, the desk and chairs kind of intimidated her just as they did when she was younger, "**_**You wanted to see me Papa?**_**" she asked slowly as the grip on her book tightened.**

**The King of Arendelle did not look up from the paper in front of him. It was crinkled and creased, and was practically destroyed. Despite its appearance Anna knew what that paper was, because it had been confiscated from her math tutor that very same day not a few hours ago. She winces in her mind at the scrutiny that he is giving the parchment paper in his hand. In fact if her father had fire powers, she was sure the paper would have been burnt to a crisp by now, "**_**It would seem that Mrs. Wilder did not like that you were doing artwork during her lesson. Would you care to explain yourself?**_**" He finally did look at her and slowly turned the tattered paper towards her.**

"_**It was supposed to be a surprise Papa**_**." Anna said not even looking at it, "**_**I was making it for you and Mama. I wanted to get at least a rough sketch down before I had forgotten it**_**."**

**The King looked at his youngest daughter and then at the paper. From what he could make out, the sketch was very rough, so he assumed that his daughter was in the process of doing a quick outline of four people before the paper had been roughly taken away as the math tutor had told him. Two people were standing in the back and two people were standing in the front, however the two in the front looked smaller than the two people in the back, "**_**So what exactly-**_**"**

"_**It is supposed to be a family portrait…of a time when we were happy. I was going to give it to you and Mama for your anniversary in two weeks**_**." Anna said cutting him off, "**_**I was in the portrait room trying to figure out what to get you, because of course Elsa won't talk to me when I asked her for ideas, but then as I was thinking I found myself wandering and I found a picture of the two of you when you were happy and then I noticed further down the hall on my way to class, I saw a picture of Elsa and I when we were little so I had gotten the idea to-**_**"**

"_**Put the two together in a new picture**_**." The King said quietly in understanding. At first he thought, like the tutor, that Anna had been day dreaming in class again and he had become upset; however now he saw the picture in new light.**

**Anna nodded, "**_**Yes. I tried to explain it to her, but she wouldn't listen.**_**" **

"_**You know you should be paying attention though right? Not drawing something that is irrelevant to the class?**_**" He lightly scolded.**

"_**Yes and I am sorry Papa**_**." Anna said.**

**The King stood up after he tossed away the ruined picture and went over to the other side of the desk. Pulling Anna to her feet, he gave her a hug which she gladly returned. Kissing the top of her head he whispered, "**_**It will get better**_**."**

"_**When**_**?" Anna asked, "**_**When can we be happy again? When will Elsa be happy again**_**?"**

"_**Soon, you just have to give it some time. Now I have a very special job for you**_**."**

"_**You do?**_**" Anna asked pulling away to look at her father with bright eyes.**

"_**Yes, your job is to do another drawing, but make it big. I'd like to give it to your mother when we get back, and actually you'll have three weeks to get it done.**_**"**

**Anna cocked her head to the side, "**_**Three?**_**"**

"_**Yes, your mother and I are leaving next week to go to Corona. So we are leaving next week, for the week of our anniversary we will be in Corona, and then we should be home the following week or the next at some point depending on the weather. So you and Elsa will be here to watch over things while we are gone**_**."**

"_**Elsa and I…? By ourselves? Without you here?**_**" Anna asked worriedly looking away.**

**The King smiled and placed a hand under her chin and looked deeply into her eyes, "**_**You both will be fine.**_**" Seeing she needed a bit more reassurance, he said as firmly as he could, "**_**You will be fine, Anna**_**."**

'_You will be fine, Anna_' Anna heard those words echoing around her as she sat in the very chair that she had occupied that day. Looking at the wall she saw the black cloth that hung around a painting. Placing the gold book on the dusty desk, she went over and gently grasped the fabric in her hand. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she pulled and the cloth slid off the frame.

Slowly opening her eyes, her gaze locked on to those of her father, "Hi Papa." She greeted and then she looked into the eyes of her mother, "Hi Mama." She paused unsure where to start, but then recalled the memory again, "I finished that drawing, I did not show it to Elsa though. It is safe in my special memory box in my room with my chocolate stash." She smiled to herself, but her smile faded.

The room remained as it was, quiet. The only thing that seemed to have changed was the atmosphere, which suddenly became heavy. Looking at her father again, she said, "You were right. Well not totally right, but I mean you were right eventually…we are fine…I mean, we were fine…I was fine...but we are not anymore." She looked away at this point, "I am not changing my mind. I know what needs to be done…I just wish it did not hurt so much."

Again there was only silence, but this time Anna was filled more with a sense of determination, "Anyway I always figured the both of you are up there watching over us. I mean we could never hide anything from you when we were little, so it is impossible to hide what is going on now." She stopped herself and took a deep breath, "While I am on this journey, I just wanted you to know that the both of you will always be my parents…I love you both."

She then kissed her hand and gently placed it on the frame. Taking the cloth from the floor, she shook it out a bit and gave one final look to her parents and covered their faces. Then gathering the book off the dusty desk she walked to the door and slowly opened it. Looking swiftly in the hallway, she saw the coast was clear and turned back to the room, "I love you." She whispered to the emptiness and silently closed the room. Steeling her resolve, she sprinted to her study to begin the final preparations for this final masquerade.

It had been two days since the incident with the meeting and the break up between the Princess and the ice harvester. Of course by this point everyone knew about both occurrences and everyone was not happy. Kristoff had taken Sven to go on an extended harvesting trip in order to forget about his pain for the time. Elsa's mood was not much better, as in she refused to even look (let alone) talk to her sister, but at the same time Anna had also started to become reclusive herself. She would not come out of her study, only to talk to the councilmen about the plans for Hans and Alastair's capture. However even with Elsa present at these meetings, the sisters did not even acknowledge each other.

It was not until the end of the week, when they had decided that Elsa would make her speech to the city did they communicate. Elsa was waiting at the entrance to the balcony, she still would rather not being do this. Anna was her only sister after all, she loved her to death despite the decisions that she has been making. After the meeting that day, she had gone into her room and pretty much did something she had not done in years, which was turn her room into a snowy wasteland. Although the next day she had been somewhat ready to confront Anna, Kristoff had confronted her first and that conversation had not gone over that well. He had told her of what happened between Anna and himself and how he was leaving. Elsa of course had begged him to stay and perhaps that was a misunderstanding. However he was not hearing of it and had taken Sven that very same day and left the city to head to the mountains.

Elsa since then had not been able to look at or even talk to her sister, of course not that Anna was giving an inch either. But today, Elsa was going to change that as she saw her sister approaching the balcony entrance. Anna, upon seeing her sister, paused for a brief moment. The feeling between the two of them, brought the unpleasant awkwardness that has not been felt since the fateful coronation, "Hi." Elsa said smiling as she met Anna halfway.

"Hi." Anna responded in the same manner as her sister.

Elsa's mind flashed to the coronation. It was almost like the same greeting with the same feelings, only except this person was no longer her awkward sister, but a more sophisticated and proper younger woman. And Elsa hated it, "So you broke up with Kristoff?" she asked casually.

Anna flinched, which gave Elsa some sort of hope at least, "Yes I did. I had to."

"Why Anna?" Elsa demanded, "Why would you break his heart like that? How could you do something so…so…?" Elsa did not want to say it.

However Elsa did not need to say it, because Anna asked softly, "So Hans like?"

Elsa looked at her sister again and saw some kind of ancient pain and depression lingering in their blue depths, however before she could comment, she heard Kai's voice, "Queen Elsa. It is time."

Elsa and Anna looked to him and then at each other, "We are not done here Anna."

Anna looked at her sister and motioned with her hand to lead the way as Kai announced her name, "Perhaps sister." Then as Kai announced her title she muttered to herself, "Perhaps."

In the crowd looking up at the balcony was a man. He had short jet black hair, a built and strong body, and deep ocean green colored eyes. As he listened to the Queen about giving up the search for Prince Hans and the accomplice, he felt his heart leap, but it did not leap as much as it did until his eyes landed on her. The Queen had turned the shocking speech over to her sister…the Princess. Just the way she stood, he knew that he had his Queen back. He knew it was only a matter of time, however he knew that his time was now as she declared that there would be a masquerade ball at the end of the month to celebrate all the good things that Arendelle had.

He turned away not wishing to hear anymore. He of course knows that the masquerade was a ruse to get them to come out of hiding, but he did not care. The time to act was at hand and at the end of the month they will. As he approaches the alley, he meets up with his 'friend', the old man with the white hair, "Well?" the old man asks.

"The time is now. They are giving up the search and are holding a masquerade ball at the end of the month. To help boost moral or something." He shrugs as he walks with his friend back into town, "It is all open invite for the kingdom."

"Which pretty much means we are guests." The man smirks.

"Yes it does. By this time at the end of the month, you will have your revenge." He responds dutifully.

"And you will have a seat in my court as promised."

_That is what you think_, he says however he knows that if he lasted this long with the idiot, what's a few more weeks?

**A/N: **Ok so before you all kill me with torches and pitch forks, it had to be done. I am sorry, but Anna breaking up with Kristoff had to be done so do not kill me! I am a Kristanna fan so please do not worry, I have plans for the remaining two chapters! Just do not flame or maim me alive please…and I am serious about the sequel to this story and to my other one so please read Phantom Agony, or if you are looking more some laughs after reading this chapter: Fun Times in Frozen will make you smile.


	13. Golden Memories

**Cursed **

**Chapter Twelve: Golden Memories**

In the middle of a desert in Egypt, a man stood before the ruins of a palace. It was a disaster and seemingly beyond repair, but repairing it was the last thing on his list. After all it was not his place, nor his job to do so. However instead he stepped into another ruin that he remembered to be the meditation room. The man sighed and summoned a staff, then he muttered a chant in a foreign language. In a flash of white light it was restored to its former glory.

Stepping inside, the man sighed again; this time in remembrance as his gaze shifted around the room. The room was covered in a golden color, with a wood floor finish. There was a little fire place in the middle of the room. All around the walls were pictures depicting of how the Golden Age was established. The aura was calming and the man took a deep breath as he sat in front of the fire place. He bowed his head and prayed, as he did so the fire magically ignited and he looked up to gaze into its depths.

Different images began to flash in it and he let out a gasp. So it was true, he thought to himself as the fire showed the image of his former mentee. She has awakened, he smiled at his thought. Then the scene changed and showed him two more people, which again made him smile. However the smile fell as he saw all the events that had passed between the people that he once called friends and family; and then he scowled darkly at the next image of what appeared to be the future…no…he would not allow her to suffer again, "Show me the harvester again." He ordered his voice hoarse and deep.

The flame roared and the image set in. The man nodded and the flame extinguished itself. He stood up and again summoned his staff, "To Arendelle." He commanded and he tapped the butt of the staff on the floor and he vanished just as the room he was in turned back into the ruin it was found to be in.

* * *

Kristoff slammed the ice pick as hard as he could on the ice until he heard a crack, "Born of cold and winter air and mountain rain combining…" He heard the familiar chanting of the other ice harvesters all around him, "This icy force both foul and fair has a frozen heart worth mining…" He heard the other part of the chant echoing all around him.

Kristoff snorted and took a small break. So much irony in that song it was not even funny. He let out a shaky breath and again pounded the ice with the pick ax, "Cut through the heart, cold and clear. Strike for love and strike for fear…see the beauty sharp and sheer. Split the ice apart and break the frozen heart…" He looked to Sven, who was giving him a sad look knowing where his friend's thought was headed, but none the less the reindeer nodded his head nodded along to the song as it picked up in rhythm.

Kristoff smiled sadly to his only true friend. He had been up in the mountains for the past two weeks, at first he was filing out some paperwork, but then one day just decided to pick up the axe and started pounding his frustrations away at the ice, as if it was somehow it's fault that he was in his current emotional predicament, "Beautiful, powerful, dangerous, cold. Ice has a magic can't be controlled; stronger than one, stronger than ten, stronger than a hundred men."

Ice…that used to be his favorite thing in the whole wide world. He had cried when he had seen that ice palace…but now just the thought of that place made him sick. It was the journey that he had taken **her** on that made him fall in **love** with her. The more he had gotten to know her, the more he fell in love with her without even knowing it. However now, it would seem as if she had developed that frozen heart…so yea, going back to the original thought of ice being to blame for his emotional predicament: it was, "Born of cold and winter air and mountain rain combining. This icy force both foul and fair, has a frozen heart worth mining!" He finally joined in the chanting as Sven nodded his head back and forth.

Kristoff swung the axe pick as hard as he could as if trying to mine through his now frozen heart, "Cut through the heart, cold and clear. Strike for love-" the ice cracked as he struck it, "and strike for fear." He swung again this time harder, "There's beauty and there's danger here. Split the ice apart-" Kristoff threw the axe aside and had gotten out a hook and pulled the ice block in and then out of the lake as he sang the last line of the chant, "beware the frozen heart."

"Mister Bjorgman?" Kristoff turned to see a boy, no older than sixteen, approaching him.

"Kyle, how many times must I tell you to call me Kristoff?" Kristoff replied as he stopped what he was doing to face the boy.

The boy nodded, "Sorry sir."

"And please do not call me sir."

"Yes, sorry sir-er-yea sorry again-"

"Stop apologizing and tell me what is wrong." Kristoff requested trying to put the teen out of his misery.

The teen nodded, "Yea sure…uhm…there is a man that requested to see you." He motioned to the edge of the lake and sure enough when Kristoff looked in the direction that the boy was pointing, there indeed was a man standing near his sleigh in a black cloak.

Kristoff and Sven exchanged a look and he thanked the boy and gave him the hook. Approaching the shore the man asked, "Are you Kristoff Bjorgman?"

"Yes…" He said slowly and glanced to his sleigh to see if there was anything missing, "and you are…?"

"My name is Seto. Seto Cohen." The man said introducing himself as he held a hand out.

Kristoff hesitantly shook hands with the stranger and then decided to make a show of hooking Sven up to the sleigh, "Well what can I do for you?"

"Well I am a traveler and passing through, but I do not know the way to the nearest town." Seto explained. Kristoff stopped what he was doing and turned to face the man, "Would you happen to know? I mean after all you deliver ice right? Surely you know the nearest town."

"Arendelle. It's not quite that far actually, half a day's trip in that direction." Kristoff responded pointing in the direction to where the town was.

He watched as Seto's face fell and suddenly he got an uneasy feeling washing over him, "Oh I see then…" Seto looked at Kristoff with a wince and slight fatigue expression, "Well I have been traveling for quite some time you see…perhaps if it is not too much trouble, could you give me a ride…if you are heading back?" The traveler motioned to the sleigh that Kristoff had hooked Sven up to and the amounts of ice that was residing on the back of it.

Kristoff was now suddenly on the alert. At first he when he met the man nothing about him rang any alarms, but now something was telling him to not help this man. He looked at Sven and could see the distrust in his friend's eyes so this definitely told him that something was not adding up, considering the fact that Sven nearly begged him to help **her**, "I actually was not planning-"

The man sighed and suddenly Kristoff saw him pull out a staff from underneath his cloak, "Let me rephrase." Seto said and pointed his staff right in Kristoff and Sven's faces. Seto watched as their eyes clouded over and their expressions became dazed, "You will take me to Arendelle."

Kristoff and Sven nodded as he responded in a dead tone, "We will take you to Arendelle."

"Perfect." Seto said and using his magic to continue to use Kristoff and Sven as his temporary puppets as they continued to pack up. As Kristoff was still packing up his belongings, Seto turned to the rest of the harvesters. Chanting a spell the men froze, and Seto used this opportunity to wipe and alter the memories, so that it was like nothing had happened. In their mind it was like Kristoff was never with them that day and no one was witness to Seto's appearance.

* * *

Elsa approached Anna's door with uncertainty. Over the course of the several weeks, they hadn't seen each other. In fact if Elsa was being honest it was like the roles were switched, "Anna?" Elsa called knocking on the door in front of her, "It's me Elsa…"

There was no response, so with a heavy sigh Elsa decided to ask _**the**_ question, "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Again there was no response from the other side of the door. Elsa frowned deeply not knowing what was going on. She had searched almost the entire castle looking for her sister in all the places that Anna would have been in, but no such luck so this was the only logical place that Anna could be, "Look whatever I have done, I am really sorry. I mean if I had hurt you in anyway, then I am truly sorry, so can you please come out the door, and let's talk this out."

Elsa waited again for a response. Any type of response…whether it be rejection that she knew would be a like a knife through her heart, or the opening of the door. However after a minute or two of silence, the queen as she sighed and tried again, "Please Anna, I know you are upset at something. Whether it is due to what has been happening with Hans, or because you broke up with Kristoff I just…" Elsa paused and said, "I just want you to know that you are not alone because I am upset too, please don't shut me out. We can work this out. It doesn't have to be this way...do you wanna build a snowman?" Elsa asked again this time more hopeful, "It doesn't have to be a snowman…"

There was no response, so Elsa did something that Anna had never tried to do before and reached for the doorknob. Before her hand actually touched the bronze handle, she stopped. What if it was locked? What would that mean? Or what if she really was not in there, then what would she do? Shaking her head and her hands out, she firmly made her decision, regardless of being locked or not, she reached for the handle once more and turned the handle. It was not locked, and she gently pushed the door open, "Anna?" Elsa called out with uncertainty.

Opening it all the way, Elsa saw that Anna was not in her room. Frowning she mentally ran off the list of places she thought Anna would be…this was the last stop. Sighing in aggravation she was about to leave and close the door when something gold caught her eye. Looking back into the room, she walked in and went over to the desk. It was a book, a really old book. As her hand reached out to touch the cover she froze her movement as a forbidden feeling washed over her. Something was telling her to turn around and walk back out, to forget what she saw in this room; however she knew that she could not do that, because she had a feeling this book held the answers to her question for the past few months. Biting her lip she again steeled her resolve, she had to do this. She had questions and she wanted answers. Just as her finger tips touched the cover: the book became warm, the room started to shake, and in a flash of bright light she was thrown into another time.

* * *

Elsa shielded her eyes as the light dimmed. Blinking she looked around at her surroundings and asked out loud, "Where the hell am I?"

"You are in the Golden Age." Elsa spun to see a red flame like wolf slowly approaching her, "In which case I welcome you Queen Elsa of Arendelle." The wolf's mouth did not move as it spoke, and she knew that it was somehow using telepathy to communicate.

The wolf bowed to her, but Elsa saw the mournful and sad look in the wolf's yellow depths, "The Golden Age? I do not-"

But before she could finish that sentence she saw a little girl with long flowing strawberry blonde braided hair ran across the flower field with a picnic basket in her hand. Immediately she recognized the little girl as her little sister, "Anna?!"

However the little girl did not stop, nor gave any indication as to hearing her sister calling to her. Turning back to Flame she asked, "What is going on?"

"Come. Let's follow her so you can see and understand." Flame said and guided the confused and bewildered Snow Queen to the little girl.

"But how are we not being seen?" Elsa asked kind of nervously as she saw guards standing off to the side and there was the bright sun overhead. It was unnerving to look at the guards and have them looking right through you.

Flame sighed, "We are in Anna's memory of the Golden Age. You had touched the book in Anna's bedroom which is what brought you here."

"But how-"

"What were you thinking about when you touched the book?" Flame asked as they suddenly stopped.

Elsa thought about her questions and then suddenly gasped, "Answers. I had questions about Anna and I wanted answers…"

Flame sat back on his hind legs and nodded, "There you go. As for this," with a paw he motioned to the outside field, "since we are in a memory, these are moments that have already come to pass. So that means no one can see us, sense us, or hear us. We are invisible to everyone and everything."

Elsa nodded as Flame stood up and kept leading them to where Anna was now at, "Alastair!" She yelled out as a boy with jet black hair came into view.

Elsa and Flame watched on as the boy and the young girl started to set up the blanket and the picnic basket. Immediately, just like at the coronation, a sense of uneasiness overcame the Snow Queen, "I remember this day." Flame said as they continued to watch the two young children interacting, "This was day is significant because not only did you come to live at the castle, but he did as well."

Elsa looked at the wolf, her uneasiness forgotten momentarily, "I came to live at the castle?"

"You two were cousins in this life." Flame said reminding her, "I will tell you that story another time however."

"But-" Elsa started to ask, however the wolf shook its head and motioned with a paw back on the scene.

"How did you get here? Where are your parents?" Anna asked Alastair.

Alastair took a bite out of his sandwich. His face fell and said quietly, "My parents were killed a few days ago. There was an accident and they didn't make it, I tried everything to bring them back but I couldn't so I ran away." Alastair covered his eyes as he started to cry, "I'm all alone now. I have no family." Anna looked at him she moved the basket that was sitting between them and placed her head on his lap, "What-" he started to ask.

"Don't worry I'll always be here for you." Anna promised. Just the tone that Anna used reminded Elsa of the way she would comfort her in time of depression, "Besides do you know what I just found out?" Anna asked as she picked her head up.

"What is that?" The boy asked.

"My cousin, Elizabeth, is coming to live with us as well. So you will not be alone! You will have me and Elizabeth to comfort you." The smile the young girl gave the boy was bright.

"It'll be like having sisters!" Alastair cheered, "I always wanted siblings."

Elsa did not take her eyes off the scene as she asked, "How old are they?"

Flame cocked his head to the side and answered, "I believe Anna is seven and Alastair is eight or nine. Meaning that you would be three."

Elsa nodded as the children kept talking and coming up with fun adventures that they would have when the scene began to darken, "I do not understand, what does any of this have to do with what is happening to Anna now?"

Flame bowed his head, "It is coming. You just have to be patient, the memories are fast forwarding." Flame looked up as multiple scenes started to show all at once. Elsa looked on in awe as the young girl that she had seen moments before, blossomed into a teenager right before her eyes. In fact it was all surreal to see not only her past-self and Alastair interacting and also aging, "I will tell you though," he paused as they continued to watch on, "their bond grew. As it did however, everyone had become increasingly wary of their closeness."

Elsa nodded as she watched. She could tell that even her past-self was not too thrilled with the closeness, "Why?" She asked not understanding the reasoning behind the feelings she was receiving.

Flame inclined his head as the memories slowed. They were now looking at a lake scene. Anna was in a royal dress sitting on a rock. Her hair was still long and in a style that must have showed her position of power…she looked upset as she had a stick in her hand making circles in the water she looked no older than in her middle teens. Then in the distance Elsa watches as a young man walking up to her. He was tall, his hair was slightly longer, and he was built. It was Alastair.

"My princess what has you so down?" He asked kneeling next to Anna.

Anna sighed as she tossed the stick in the water, "Everything is wrong Al. Everything about this royal system is wrong."

"And what is so wrong about it Princess Anastasia?" Alastair asked gently taking her hand in his.

Elsa swings her head to Flame, "Anastasia? That is Anna's previous life's name?"

Flame gave her what she perceived as a grin, "She hated that name. She found it too stuffy so she had insisted everyone call her Anna. It was close enough if you think about it."

Elsa nodded as she continued to watch, "Forcing someone to marry is wrong!" Anna yelled causing Alastair to jump back in shock. Elsa figured it was as if he had never heard her shout before.

"Marry?! Who is forcing who to marry?!" He asked his voice in shock.

Anna got up and started to pace, "My mother and father are choosing my new husband and we had gotten into an argument. Even my wonderful cousin," Elsa flinched at the tone Anna used, "was not understanding. She thinks it is a wonderful arrangement of suitors that they have picked out. I mean why should she care?! Like if she thinks it is so wonderful, then why doesn't she get married to them?!"

Alastair looked at her with pity and said quietly, "Because she is not the heir of the kingdom, you are their rightful heir."

"I know I am," Anna responded almost defeated, "I know that she would not inherit the kingdom because she has no right to it, but I want to marry for love. And I…I already love someone." She said quietly. Alastair was going to open his mouth but she continued, "How can they be so hypocritical Al?"

"Hypocritical? What do you mean?" He asked watching her pace.

They started to talk low about the matter when Elsa sighed, "Did they do this because they knew something was going to happen?"

"Yes. There was a high priest named Seto, who eventually became her mentor; that told them about a prophecy. This is another story for another time, however I came tell you that it occurred when he first entered the kingdom." Flame responded and then sighed as he continued, "As their feelings grew and they had gotten older, they tried to pull them apart by giving them more responsibilities. For Anastasia it was lesson after lesson after lesson…for Alastair it was training as a soldier and as a political senator. They had hoped their schedules would keep the apart…but they always found away. So to solve this problem they went with an arranged marriage."

Elsa frowned, despite her uneasiness, it was almost similar to the situation that her and Anna had for thirteen years. Their schedules had never or hardly matched up, doors were the physical barriers, and it was just an all-out dodge the bullet scenarios for them. She was then brought out of her musings as she heard Alastair speak, "From the first time we met at the picnic you welcomed me with the kindness I was never shown. You treated me like an equal. You never once judged me. I watched you grow from a child into a fabulous young woman who deserves so much in her life." The sick feeling returned to her as she watched the young man kneel down and took something out of his pocket and opened it. It was a twenty four karat gold ring with an amethyst stone, "Will you marry me?"

Anna could not believe her eyes as she jumped on him and kissed him, "Oh Alastair yes. I will marry you. I always cared about you. I said I would always be there for you and I meant it. Yes Alastair I will marry you." Elsa watched on as her sister and Alastair kissed once more.

"Needless to say the news of the engagement did not go so well," Flame explained as the memory fast forwarded once more as we saw two adults, herself, and Anna yelling and screaming at each other, "Elizabeth, her parents, and she fought. In the end she and Alastair were forced to break the engagement, but he still remained close to them so they could watch him. However despite the constant watching, things were falling apart fast."

The scene changed again this time it was dark and stormy. Anna was coming out of a secret room and Alastair was coming down the hall, "Love what is it?" Alastair asked when Anna ran up to him.

"I know away around all of this! They cannot keep us apart forever." Anna said with a watery smile. It was then Elsa realized that she had been crying.

Alastair gently pried her off of him and looked at her, "What do you mean?"

"We can perform a bonding ceremony." Anna said grinning, "I have much better control of my powers thanks to all those lessons with Seto, so I am sure I can do this."

"What is this ceremony?" Elsa asked as they started to talk.

Flame's voice was grim, "It is like getting married only more serious. The ceremony allows two people to bond their souls creating a soul bond. This would cause them to be bonded for life. It is like the extreme case of imprinting in animals, in other words a soul-mate."

Elsa nodded trying to digest the information. She knew that some animals mated for life, and that some even become depressed when that mate dies, so if this is anything like that then, "So if you lose your soul-mate-"

"The other half will not survive." Flame stated nodding his confirmation.

"What would happen if you cut the bond?" She asked.

"The damage will physically and mentally hurt them." Flame stated.

Elsa gulped as a sick feeling rose in her stomach as Anna led Alastair to the room she just came out of, "This is my family's secret library. It has all the spell books in it and this is my getaway place. Come on!" She pulled out a knife and was about to prick her finger with it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Alastair asked stopping her. Not that Elsa would admit this out loud, but she was glad he stopped her from doing it.

Anna looked at him sharply, "I was about to prick my finger so we could enter…"

"Why?"

"Because only the blood of a direct Sinclair descendant can open the door…" Alastair looked weary as he let go of her arm. Then suddenly this scene faded as another scene arose.

"What happened? Did they perform the bond?" Elsa asked astounded at the change in the scene.

"No they did not. Seto intercepted Alastair and told him everything he knew about him and later that night he went back to his birthplace and then-"

Terrifying screams were heard as Elsa and Flame saw images of destruction and chaos. Then they saw Alastair appearing out of the room that Anna was about to go into. Then it switched to the outside and they saw a man and two women fighting on the balcony. Below were soldiers and monstrous creatures and people were running and screaming. There was a high cruel laughter coming from the balcony as they heard a familiar voice, "Why Alastair?! I loved you!"

"I wanted the ultimate power of the universe now that I have the book nothing will stand in my way!" He had a sword raised and was laughing in triumph. They saw that the Queen was busy fighting a monstrous looking creature and Alastair had Anna and Elizabeth pinned. The King was off to the side as he turned, looking at the wreckage of the Kingdom.

Nodding his head after making his decision, his voice rang loud, "I think not!" There was a blue light and the scene faded once more.

Flame did not speak as they saw the memories flash of the funeral for the King, then another funeral for the Queen, Anna's coronation, then Anna training with a man who Elsa would guess as Seto, then there was another battle with Anna and Seto fighting ("I'd rather not talk about it just yet" Flame said as Elsa was about to ask), and then more of Anna and Alastair fighting, then finally they reached the end…"The fall of the Golden Age." Flame clarified.

This time the sky was filled with a crimson red as the blood of the slain soldiers laid on the ground. Elsa could smell the smoke in the air as fires were burning the homes of the civilians and cries of pain and agony swept through like wind.

Suddenly a massive explosion could be heard, and Elsa looked towards the palace as a massive black cobra was coiling around the bottom of the building hood fanned out and ready to strike. Then out of a raging tornado like fire came a gigantic wolf, "That is-" Elsa started to say as she turned to face her companion, but he was not there.

There was suddenly a cry of agony, and she quickly ran towards the familiar cry. As she approached the stairs, she found the source of the crying and saw Anna cradling a blonde young woman, "You sacrificed yourself for me?" Elsa heard Anna ask.

"I love you." Came a weak reply.

Elsa felt her mouth go completely dry as she approached the scene, "Oh Elizabeth…I am so sorry. Please do not go…"

"Anastasia…" Elsa tried to place a hand on her sister's shoulder in comfort as her past-self continued to talk. As she tried to do so, her hand went right through as if she was a phantom, which she technically was, "please…do not…give up…"

"I won't. I promise." Anna whispered, "I will fight for you…I will always fight for you."

"I know, but do not forget to live…when this is over," Elsa could hear Elizabeth's voice becoming weaker, "promise me, you will learn to move on and be happy. For me…"

"I promise…" Elsa watched as Anna laid Elizabeth on the only thing that did not have any debris on it, which was the couch in the far corner in the opposite end of the room, "I love you."

However Elizabeth did not respond, as she was already unconscious. Elsa saw a steel look in Anna's eyes as she ran from the room. Taking one look back, Elsa ran to follow her sister and in no time, she reached the balcony just as Anna and Alastair were facing off with both swords raised and spirit creatures ready to strike.

"Surrender Queen Anastasia, there is nothing you can do." He said.

"As long as I live there is plenty I can do." Anna said calmly.

"Your kingdom is in ruins, your people are all but dead, face it there is nothing left. If you surrender you can come with me. We can be together. Just give me what I want." He said. As Elsa watched the scene, she could see that something was not right though…he looked like he really meant it.

Anna glared disgusted at the statement, "Even in death I would never let you have it."

"Fine then you leave me no choice. Serpent! Poison Strike!" Alastair ordered and lunged.

"Flame! Inferno Sniper!" Anna yelled defending herself against the assault.

The creatures started to fight as their masters attacked and there was nothing that Elsa could do to help. All she could do was watch as her sister and former lover were fighting tooth and nail for their lives. Then out of nowhere, Elsa watched as Alastair vanished and then Anna vanished. She was stunned as Flame and the giant cobra stopped and then changed attacks. However based on what she had seen in the clearing that day when the wolves attacked, she knew that her sister was actually the wolf, but that relief was short lived when she realized that Alastair was the snake.

Then the wolf was engulfed in a fire tornado spiral as it charged towards the snake. In a great ball of light the snake vanished and Alastair was left in a heap with burns and scratches covering his body. The wolf also vanished as Anna reappeared in its place. She was also covered in scratches and was panting heavily. Elsa could see that in any minute she was about to collapse, "Anna…" He growled and tried to stand up.

Elsa wanted to fight. The need to protect her sister was starting to become unbearable, "Relax." Elsa jumped and turned to actually see her own sister staring at her with a look of pity and disappointment in her blue depths, "There is nothing you can do."

"Wait but-" Elsa tried to get out as she turned to see the past Anna approaching the man on the ground.

"Just watch." Anna said looking at her sister.

Elsa nodded numbly as she watched the other 'Anna' summoned a staff, "As the Highest Queen Regent Golden Age I banish you to the Null Void!" The staff started to glow and the last thing the two sister's heard before as there was a flash of white light consuming them was Alastair's screams of agony and defeat.

* * *

As the room came back into focus when the light dimmed, Elsa blinked, "Did that just happen?"

Anna looked at Elsa as she reached behind her sister and grabbed the gold book, "Yes, unfortunately it did."

Elsa looked at Anna in disbelief, "So that really was your past life. That is why this assassin wants us…"

"Well me, he wants me and yes." Anna nodded as she corrected her sister.

Elsa was still staring at her sister as the images what she had just witnessed were still floating in her mind's eye. Now she understood everything: Anna's sudden change in demeanor, her need to isolate herself from everyone, the need to exclude her from the plan in capturing the assassin and Hans…even the wolf. Everything suddenly made sense, "I finally understand…" Elsa finally managed to say out loud as she looked at her sister in awe.

"_Why did you not tell me about this sooner_?" Anna thought to Flame.

"**I was trying to help, I mean she does deserve to know…**"

"_Not remember_." Anna thought bitterly.

"**She wouldn't be able to anyway. The spell you did made sure of that, besides her ties are here to this life…not the past life like yours**."

Anna looked at Elsa and shook her head, "Please, you spend all of an hour with these memories and you think you understand?"

Elsa flinched at the tone, but held firm, "Like you traveled to my ice palace claiming that you finally understand everything?"

"That was different." Anna bit out as she placed the book on her shelf, "Besides this is a bit more serious than a three day winter in summer."

"I know which is why I wish you would have told me sooner instead of shutting me out! Damn it Anna!" Elsa yelled as she slammed an icy heel on the floor causing ice to formulate in the room, "Stop being stubborn and talk to me!"

"I CAN'T!" Anna yelled and suddenly she was no longer in her casual green day dress; instead she was in the black dress Elsa remembered from the night when she first had a conversation with Flame, and in Anna's hand she held a golden staff. Taking a deep breath, Anna opened her eyes to see the rather frightened and awe look that was on Elsa's face, "I am sorry," Anna said in a softer tone, "but I can't."

"Can't what? Talk to me? Stop being stubborn? What Anna? What is it that you cannot do?" Elsa questioned firmly, trying not to show that she was rather intimidated by her younger sister.

Anna sighed, "This Elsa. I cannot do this anymore. It is not out of stubbornness or anything of that nature. I cannot do this." Anna motioned between herself and Elsa.

Elsa looked at her sister curiously still not catching on, but before she could speak her mind, Anna had the staff in her face, "Anna what are you-"

"I am sorry Elsa, but the less you know the better." Anna said apologetically. As far as she remembered in her previous life, she never used her magic on her cousin, "I made you a promise and I intend on keeping it. Again I am sorry Elizabeth…Elsa." Before Elsa could do anything, Anna muttered, "Mind Melt."

Anna watched as Elsa's eyes became dimmed and her posture became more relaxed. Anna hated to do this as she watched her sister sit on the bed, "**Then why are you doing it?**" Flame asked puzzled.

"_As I said, the less she knows the better._" Anna responded sadly as she used her magic to wipe the previous events from her sister's mind.

"**For her or for you?**" Flame asked. Before Anna could formulate a response, she felt his presence vanish.

Anna bit her lip and turned her attention back on her sister. She did not know that Elsa would have opened the door, much less enter her room when she was not there. However with the ball happening in a few days, she could not have her sister knowing about any of this, "Ok you are going to wait outside my door for a minute or two. You will then knock and ask me to join you for dinner." Anna instructed as she looked at the clock and it was indeed dinner time. She had met Gerda in the hall and told her that she would tell Elsa herself when dinner was expected and not to disturb them, "After that everything will be normal and you will not remember anything that occurred in this room. Now go."

Elsa stood up in a daze and walked out of the room. Anna shut the door and immediately she was back in her casual green day dress and the staff had vanished as well. Then she quickly grabbed the golden book from the shelf and stuffed it in her pillow just as there was a knock on the door, "Anna? It's me Elsa."

"One minute." Anna called back trying to sound normal. Once everything was in place, she went to the door and opened it, "Hi. Can I help you?"

"I wanted to know if you would be joining me for dinner." Elsa said. Anna noticed that her sister's face still had a slight dazed look to it, however it was slowly starting to become normal.

"Sure." Anna said as she stepped out and closed her bedroom door.

As they walked down the hall, Anna looked at her sister and noticed that she was slowly becoming normal. She had used the trick on only a few people back in the Golden Age, and like she had previously thought, she never used it on her cousin, "So what did you do today?"

"Oh you know the usual. Paperwork and more paperwork. Even a few trade agreements," Elsa trailed off.

"So nothing of interest?"

"Nope." Elsa responded as they enter the dining room. However as Anna sat down feeling relieved, Elsa couldn't help but have a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach as she re-thought of the question. But before she could place too much thought into it, the food was served and the thought was pushed aside.


End file.
